Ilya's castle
by rapebird
Summary: Ilya challenges the Masters and Servants to a strange game
1. Chapter 1

"Saber, how does steak for tonight sound?" Shirou called from the kitchen, smiling to himself, already knowing the answer.

"WONDERFUL SHIR…I mean, isn't that quite an expensive dish?" Saber caught herself quickly. Saber's abilities as a gourmet were second to none, but she had learned a bit about trying to take care of her tastes on a budget, even if she didn't particularly enjoy doing so.

"Nah, its fine its fine. I had planned to be feeding all of us today, but Fuji-nee just called and said she would have a late conference, Tohsaka is in training today and Sakura is putting in extra hours at the dojo to help out Mitsuzuri. So it's just us tonight, and there is a sale on meat today, it's a rare occasion to just enjoy something for the two of us, so why not splurge a bit? Besides, Sakura mentioned there was a sale going on at lunch today. I already got several cuts at a good price on my way home."

Saber felt her cheeks redden a bit with happiness. "That…that sounds truly pleasant, Shirou."

Shirou busied himself in the kitchen with vigor. Cooking a family meal was fun, and kind of his specialty, but it was also enjoyable to make something smaller. He had been preparing for this for a bit now, and felt good about the meal's prospects. He had marinated the several cuts of lean strip he had purchased already, so now he only needed to add oil and heat the two cast iron pans he would need. Saber had a large appetite, but two cuts along with the side dish should be enough to satisfy even her. He started heating the pans and began preparing egg and potatoes for the traditional potato salad he would make alongside. When the heat was right, he placed several steaks onto the skillet, turning each once after about 45 seconds, and then allowing them to be placed directly onto the pan itself. Reminding himself not to forget the rotations needed, he began boiling carrots and slicing some cucumbers and onions. The meal was coming along fine.

Meanwhile, Saber sat in the living room, alone; she didn't feel the need to watch the television and simply sat patiently nursing a small cup of tea, listening to the busy sounds of Shirou cooking in the kitchen. The sound of meat searing on the pan began to fill the house and made her stomach growl pleasantly with anticipation. A fine meal right now, and then she and Shirou would have plenty of energy afterwards for swordsmanship training tonight. If the meal was as pleasant as it smelled, she might even forgive him for copying moves from Ride...maybe.

!

Without warning the TV turned on by itself, sending out a large amount of white noise, but Saber could see a small shape beginning to take form in the snowy picture.

"Shirou!" Saber called, recognizing this as something not normal and therefore something he should see.

"Coming!" he called, as he set the meat to a low heat and walked out to meet her. Saber always thought Shirou looked appealing in his apron, but that wasn't something she would share unless asked.

"There is no doubt Shirou, it's..." Saber began, looking at the slowly clearing image.

"HELLLLLLLLLOOOOOOO ONIII-CHAAAAAAN!" "A vibrant voice shot out of the television and reverberated throughout the room.

"Ilyasviel." Saber finished unnecessarily.

"These four days can get a little boring sometimes eh? That's why I have decided to have a little game to pass the time!" Ilya giggled in merriment. As was often the case with her, her innocent demeanor and crazy actions could be a confusing combination.

"Four days…?" Saber asked in confusion. Shirou shook his head; he felt like he knew what Ilya was talking about, but also didn't quite get it either.

Behind Ilya, the screen bloomed spectacularly into an overhead view of what appeared to be some kind of insane obstacle course.

"Ta-da! Introducing...!" As Ilya spoke, letters appeared on the television set, like a game show preview segment.

"Ilya's Castle, yay!"

What sounded like canned applause then blared over the television's speakers.

Saber and Shirou exchanged an uncertain look. Ilya usually wasn't a bad girl, but when she really went all out, sometimes it could be really hard to tell the difference.

"The wonderful game show that is sweeping Fuyuki, five Masters and their Servants, willing to risk it all in three days of furious trials of strength, skill, and luck for the chance to win wonderful prizes!" Ilya declared triumphantly, "And what's this week's prize you ask? Why, it's a wonderful beach vacation for two! All expenses paid, the finest cuisines prepared by the most world renowned chefs, wonderful activities such as snorkeling and hang gliding…"

As she spoke enticingly, the camera angle shifted over a very dazzling looking vista of pristine sand, sparkling waters, and all manner of pleasurable activity scenes embellishing the prospects of victory.

"Ooh, and the nightlife!" Ilya went on, "Bars with the finest refreshments, romantic, private beaches to swim in all alone with that special someone and…this!"

Ilya took out a key that looked like what you might receive to a rental bungalow.

"This my friends, is the key to your private beach house during your stay, a quiet little one bedroom with a bounded field around it so precisely created that without this key, the king of conquerors and all his men could assault it for the entire night and in the morning, not a scratch would be on the wall nor a sound in the premises, juuuuuuuust the thing if you ever wanted to FINALLY get some alone time with someone without a bunch of annoying people always getting in the way!"

Ilya's expression grew very sly at that, staring at the key in their hand as if it was a delicious sweet she might devour…or possibly, that she was hungry to utterly consume something else.

"Oooh, and did I mention, the winner of this key can invite aaaaaaanyone they like along on their trip, and whoever you invite can't say no!" she said in a sing song voice. "Of course, if nobody wins, I guess I would have to keep it myself, wonder what I would pooooooosibly do with it, eheehee."

Ilya had gone from sly to almost evil looking, and her face grew very large in the television set. "So, if you want that prize, or just want to keep it out of someone else's hand, then head up to the Einzbern castle, and let Ilya's Castle…BEGIN!"

With a crackle of static, the TV shut off. The room was plunged in silence; it the seemingly normal, peaceful room, it was almost hard to believe they had just received a crazy offer. Or a threat, either.

"Uh...that girl…" Shirou said, holding his head with one hand. Having a little sister was a lot of fun, but sometimes he wished Ilya was the kind whose version of mischief involved sliding down banisters or throwing water balloons, rather than stirring up city wide disturbances and death defying ordeals. Ilya's boredom might be considered the enemy to all Fuyuki...!

"Huaaa…"

Shirou turned when he heard a dreamy sigh come from his usually composed partner. He had expected her to be wearing one of her usual stern expressions, but instead she had her hands clutched together, and her eyes held a wistful look.  
"Foie gras, caviar, truffles, shark fin, bird's nest soup, mutsutake mushrooms splendid alfonsino, spine lobster, jinhua ham, Peking duck, ginui fowl, soft shelled turtle, wasonbon sugar, mastsuzaka beef…"

Saber recited, clearly from memory, she was...well, it was a bit unladylike, but she was practically drooling. After a moment, Shirou recognized it as the list from her beloved _High Class Foods You Have to Try Once_ magazine, the one Fuji-nee had slyly placed hoping to entice a richer menu out of Shirou or Sakura…well, for a gourmet like Saber that book had represented an impossible, yet beautiful dream, but Ilya's promo had mentioned…

Again, Shirou glanced over at his Servant, a quiver of fear working its way up his back. She was still lost in dreamland, but her armor had manifested, her fighting spirit was clearly boiling over.

"The finest cuisine by the best chefs." Ilya had said something crazy like that; could that have been an insidious ploy?

"Th…this is crazy, Saber…" Shirou began, uncertain "We don't need to go getting into a fight like that, I mean, the contestants…some of them won't be enemies…"

"UNACCEPTABLE!" Saber roared in response. Actually, Shirou couldn't help but think she looked a lot like Taiga in that moment.

"You promised me a wonderful meal alone when you could manage it and requested I be patient, you will not break your word to me!"

"Ngh…"

That had hit a weak spot. When Saber had shown him _High Class Foods You Have to Try Once_, her eyes had shone with tears of happiness, and with a heavy heart, Shirou had admitted they simply couldn't afford such exquisite fare, but seeing her look so regretful, had promised if it was her, one day he would treat her.

"I…I will, but, Tohsaka..." Shirou started. That was a big danger. Shirou couldn't guarantee who would show up to fight. Sakura and Rider he thought wouldn't, and even if Caster, someone he had been able to get along with surprisingly well lately showed up, for Saber he would have been prepared to make a stand, but Tohsaka was a problem. A world class miser like her would not ignore a chance to splurge on someone else's dime, and that guy would be dragged along with her. If Shirou showed up to fight, Tohsaka would be at the front of the list, and he had a feeling she would go all out.

"…"

Shirou had expected another outburst, but saber had just stared at him askance for a moment…but she was emitting a very strong aura at the moment, for a moment, Shirou felt like he would have been better off if she had started berating him. This really seemed dangerous.

"…I see, Master. You not only intend to break your promise, but the reason is because you believe I am not capable of winning this fight. Or…is it because you believe you will receive this prize without me, and wish to accompany another?"

Shirou felt himself blanch and step back. Saber was wearing a tight grin on her face, but he could see a vein beginning to pulse on her forehead.

_Dangerous!_

When Saber got truly angry, she could be worse than Tohsaka, and that was clearly happening right in front of his eyes. Well, it was true; if nobody won, Ilya would probably invite him, though that didn't seem to be what Saber was saying, but beyond that…  
Well, that guy was a lot better about figuring out how things could go, but Shirou knew at least this much; if he and Saber did not participate, then he would be sitting around with his Servant, who would be furious about him not believing her and that he had broken his promise, he doubted he would survive his next swordsmanship training; in the worst case scenario, her ahoge might even come off…!

"G-Got it Saber! You and I will win together!"

"Hnn?" Saber let out a pleased and surprised start. His rapid shift caught her off guard for a moment.

"…Accepted. I will not let any stand in the way of my master."

Saber's fist was clenched tightly at her side, and a wicked gleam twinkled in her eye. Saber had always possessed a rich lust for victory in battle, but he suspected her fighting spirit had been maximized more by the thoughts of lobster and beef then by the thought of honorable combat. Damn that Ilya, at least he figured he could count on Sakura and Rider not being around…

"…Master, shall I prepare for battle?"

Sakura and Rider had been eating dinner at the library when a nearby radio had crackled with Ilya's voice and told of a strange contest. Conveniently, despite Rider's popularity their section was currently unoccupied so they could listen and speak freely.  
"Rider, do you…do you think Senpai will be there?"

"Saber may convince him. We may hope so."

"…?"

Sakura turned a confused expression towards her servant, silently waiting for an explanation.

"Saber is very powerful and will not allow harm to come to Shirou. If for whatever reason they should decide to attend, her victory will be likely. Even if the enemy was Berserker, Saber has her sword. Should she win, I don't doubt she will spend half the time gorging herself or smacking Shirou around with a shinai. Though Saber is our enemy in many matters, she would probably be the safe choice to hope to win. Because the next most likely would be…

"…Nee-san." Sakura finished, catching on.

"Yes. Besides Saber, I would consider Archer the most dangerous. He was defeated by Berserker before, but Archer is not the type to lose the same fight twice. And unlike Saber, Rin is someone who would be…dangerous to leave alone. If Rin and Shirou were to enter that beach house where Saber would not be there to chaperone them…

Thwack! The sound of Sakura's hand smacking the table in front of her reverberated through the library.

"It's decided, you and I will be there to take first place no matter what!"

Rider grinned to herself. Lately it seemed like her main duty was to protect Sakura from her own indecisiveness. Plus, a vacation would be fun, assuming she was allowed to come along too. If not, settling some old grudges would be worth it on its own right.

"Hooooooooh~?"

Tohsaka Rin was eying her servant with a piercing glare. Archer privately thought Rin must practice her ability to fix someone with a stare.

"Archer…you really think both Saber and Rider will be our opponents?"

Archer could see that Rin's temper was boiling nicely. She had been quite thrilled at the prospect of forcing him to work his ass off so that she could spend the day lazing around being pampered. Archer also suspected the rule about the invited not being able to refuse would thrill her: if there was one thing his master enjoyed, it was the ability to bully people (one idiot in particular) so to pop her bubble, he had noted she would be fighting some friends, resulting in their current stare down.

"Saber will not allow her status as the strongest servant to be challenged, and will certainly drag Shirou along, as for Sakura…well, Rider has a grudge against Saber, plus there is the reward. It is clear, however, that the most likely winner is the Einzbern girl."

Rin put her hand over her mouth and assumed a serious, almost studious expression, her temper most likely forgotten in planning tactics.

"Right, no matter who is on top, Ilya just wants an excuse to bully Shirou and brag. Everyone is probably meant to tire themselves out then lose against Berserker. But she underestimates us, isn't that right?"

Archer smiled. It was going to come to this no matter what in the end: Rin was very conscious of her possessions, and one of hers was in danger of being taken now, and besides…

"Very well, Master, I would like to settle the score with Berserker myself."

Bazett looked at her servant. They had been out on a date at the flower shop when a TV in a store front window at lit up with a surprising tale. Lancer had smirked when he heard of the prize and was now showing his teeth in a feral grin. He looked at his master, who glanced back at him. She carefully tugged on the glove on her right hand, making a fist to ensure it was perfectly snug. Without even exchanging a word, they changed directions at once, walking towards the outskirts.

Caster was not a woman used to being at a loss for words, but her feelings for her silent master often left her tongue tied. A beach vacation with Kuzuki-sama…..! Even against every servant in the city, she, the weakest servant would prevail! Caster knew she was becoming quite starry eyed and worked to school her expressions into her usual self-assurance, her master generally did not like doing needless things, but if she phrased it right…

"Caster."

Kuzuki's calm voice cut into her thoughts

"Umm, yes Master!" Caster said, unconsciously snapping to attention.

"Let's go." Kuzuki said, without inflection, rising to his feet and walking towards the door.

"R-right." Caster responded with a reddened face. While her master's back was turned, she pumped a hand into the air in victory, but when Kuzuki felt the movement in the air and turned back, she was placidly putting on her robes. Because her face was hidden in the robes, even he couldn't see the smile.

"Senpai!"

"A-ah…"  
Shirou felt a cold chill run up his spine, though Saber seemed unperturbed by the new development. As Shirou and saber had walked along what passed for a path in the Einzbern forest, mostly a trail of rubble Berserker had left that was the closest thing there to a straight line. All of a sudden Sakura's voice rung out behind them, when they turned, both Rider and Sakura had fallen into line behind them. There was a bit of danger in the air, Rider was wearing her battle gear, Breaker Gorgon and black leather as opposed to glasses and business casual.

"S-Sakura….? Why are you….?"

"…Huuuh? Isn't it obvious Shirou?' Rider's arrogant, but sexy voice interjected smoothly. "Sakura and I want to go to the beach. Don't worry, Sakura may let you come if you promise to be good." Though Rider was ostentatiously talking to Shirou, she knew that would rile up Saber, and Saber was always at her worst when she was angry and not thinking straight. Even a tiny edge could prove telling in battle.

"Senpai…you…you did come huh? Were you…wanting to go with…Saber?"

Even Shirou thought Sakura might have intended to say something else besides Saber and had changed her mind at the last moment, actually, Saber had dragged him out today, he hadn't made a dangerous choice like that yet! He was trying to figure out a response when…

"Oh? Emiya-kun…..and Sakura?"

A far more expected enemy appeared, but for some reason, Rin seemed even more scary than usual.

"Are you two having a strategy meeting? Or planning to cooperate?"

Rin had a bright smile as she walked up, but Shirou could see the beginning of a vein twitch on her forehead. Archer as always, walked a bit behind her, looking like he was having the time of his life. That bastard.

"Ah, afternoon Tohsaka, Sakura and I just ran in to each other!"

"So you and Archer did come…"Sakura muttered dejectedly. She seemed to wilt a bit as her sister sized her up.

"Of course, and you, Rider, Shirou, and Saber are here, so it's a game for everyone! Though…you two being here in advance huddled together…could it be you were looking for two bites at the apple? As long as everyone is agreed, you and Shirou could both choose who you liked, Though that seems a bit unfair."

Shirou noted that while Rin had an airy tone to her voice, her hands were locked into fists at her side, and if anything, that vein was growing larger, Tohsaka was taking an innocent meeting all wrong!

"…Rin. I can't allow such a comment to go by." In exception to the others, Saber's voice was steady and calm.

"My master will not be allowed to consider a possibility that is not his victory. If it's a contest, the only proper way to undertake it is with our heads held high in pursuit of a worthy goal, such as Foie gras."

At that, Saber nodded with a serious expression like she had said something profound, but Rin just seemed a little dumb founded. The first part of what Saber said was a good response, but hadn't it gone somewhere strange at the end?

"…Understood. Then you had no intention of working with Rider?"

Archer's voice unexpectedly cut in, he seemed to have quickly taken stock of the situation.

"Of course not, Shirou is my partner for this venture. Anyone else shall be cut down.

"S-Saber! Isn't that a little…"

"Ah, hey kid, you are doing well for yourself again, you greedy bastard!"

As one, all the eyes in the area turned to see the boisterous person who had called out; of course, it was lancer with his master Bazett walking up the trail.

"Look at all the beauties you have, kid; you have to tell me your secret! Of course, if I kill you, maybe I can just take all your plunder!"

Completely oblivious to the amount of energy crackling in the air, or maybe just completely unconcerned by it, the knight in blue walked up and said something completely outrageous.

"Lancer, that's…" Bazett tried to cut in, but Lancer just plowed right through her, "You know, this gives me some ideas, that beach invite is mandatory! So many choices for me to pick from, it's like having a flower between every finger! Is this how you feel all the time?"

"SHUT UP LANCER!" Bazett's angry voice wrung out though the forest, and her fist flashed out with her trademark speed solidly towards her own servants temple, but Lancer was more than capable of dealing with his occasionally tsukkomi master, tilting his head aside to avoid the first blow and smoothly leaping into the branches of a large tree more than twenty meters above.

As if he hadn't even been interrupted, he called out smoothly "By the way, if any of you wants me to look at you first for our trip, make sure you wear something cute when we fight!"

After he finished, the knight began smoothly running across the top of the tree line, darting forward as easily as if he was on a lane of smooth concrete, quickly leaving everyone behind.

"WHO SAID YOU GET TO PICK WHO GOES ON THE TRIP?" Bazett sprinted after her servant shouting those words, leaving the rest staring at each other in bemused confusion.

"…"

The sound of firm shoes against the leaves alerted them to the arrival of their last guest. He never slowed his gate as he and his servant passed between them, Soichiro Kuzuki. Now that everyone there knew who and what he was, his aura was in its own way just as threatening as a Servant, one could see the rippling of explosive muscles under his clothes that could dispense death without a whisper of warning or wasted movement. Behind him, walking with sedate grace was his Servant. Caster was often considered the weakest Servant of the war, but she was a merciless and intelligent opponent. She too seemed to pass by without even noticing, however, as she and Kuzuki passed she half turned, outside her Masters line of sight, the others readied, prepared for some threat or cheating spell that might give her the advantage, but instead all she did was produce a slim white gown that looked elegant but provocative, and winked once, after that, she left and followed after her master.

Several sets of eyes glanced back, Saber looked a little aggrieved, and just a bit worried. Caster's affections had always been something of an awkward subject. After a moment she composed herself.

"Shirou, we shall be late if we dally here to long, let us go."

"Err…right."

Though less enthused then his servant, Shirou followed soon after, tossing a good bye wave to the sisters and their Servants and proceeded into the forest.

The five masters were arriving, the battle of Ilya's castle…would soon begin.


	2. Chapter 2

"…."

Though the field was crowded with people, nobody had words for what they had come upon after walking through the forest. There had been a sudden rush of mist, and when the fog cleared, they had found themselves standing on the bank of a huge lake that went on for what seemed like miles. Strewn along the surface of the lake were stone tablets that looked like they could be used to traverse the lake. It looked like…well; it looked like some kind of obstacle course.

"Welcome, contestants!" Ilya's voice boomed from the sky. This was actually normal for her: in the Einzbern forest she could communicate with anyone. Then maybe they were still somehow inside Ilya's territory?

"The rules of this game are simple! Servant and Master must reach the other side; whoever does so first gets the most points! In other words, it's a race! Fight and run, use whatever weapons you can, eheehee…"

Ilya was giggling impishly as she talked, enjoying being the center of attention.

"Oh, and you might want to watch your step: there might be a friend in the water. Well, there might be a few other rules too, but you can all figure them out as you go, round one, START!"

BLHAM!

For a moment, eight heads turned as one to what they thought must have been the sound of a starting pistol announcing the race, but that's not what it was. Like a blue beam of light, Lancer had grabbed Bazzet's arm, picked her up like a young husband might her his newlywed, and blurred into motion almost before Ilya had finished speaking; now he was blistering across the water at speeds that must have left even his own sound behind him. The lake was large enough that even Archer couldn't see the other side, but at a rate like that of Lancer, he would surely be across in a matter of seconds.

"Shirou!"

"Right!"

At Saber's word, Shirou awkwardly hopped up onto her back like in a fireman's carry, and she, too vaulted across the stones. Unlike Lancer, though her movements were light; her steps carried a heavier, metallic sound because of her armored footwear. However…

"Sakura, let us catch up to Lancer"

"Let's go!"

Rider was fleeter of foot then even Lancer, but he had jumped to a lead. With her special abilities however, it wouldn't amount to anything. If it was a race, Rider had all the cards. With a smooth motion, she cut deep into her own throat. The spraying blood formed the summoning circle, and in another motion, mounted on the beautiful winged beast with Sakura riding side saddle behind her. Rider's steed, empowered by the Noble Phantasm Bellerophon, a trump card that even the speed of the gods possessed by Lancer would not encroach upon, a guaranteed victory.

…But, games aren't really fun if victory is assured. The instant that rider passed overhead of Lancer, without attacking him, out of the clear blue sky a lightning bolt stuck into the steed, electrifying it and the two poor souls riding it. Blackened and smoking despite its amazing resistances, the phantasmal horse crashed into the water, leaving its occupants forced to try to swim while dizzy from the electricity.

"Tsk tsk tsk! Cheaters never win! Bypassing the course is absolutely forbidden, and Noble Phantasms may ONLY be used to attack an enemy! Don't you know ANYTHING?"

Rider swept a mop of purple hair away from her eyes and internally felt Ilya would probably be springing rules like this all over the games; she clearly had not mentioned that stipulation just so Rider would fall into that trap. Reaching a hand to where Sakura bobbled uncertainly in the water, she figured if she could get to a stone quick enough, she should still at least be able to pass Saber.

She missed Sakura's hand. All of a sudden, Rider saw Sakura bobble once, then her head jerked under the water. At that same moment, Rider felt something _big_ below her…in the deep.

Caster clung awkwardly to Kuzuki's back as he ran. She rather liked having the excuse to clutch her Master firmly. She herself could be surprisingly fast when she needed to be, but If instead of running herself she poured prana into her Master's body, he could perform much better. It also left her free to concentrate on harassing her opponents. Across the lake, she harried Archer who was carrying Rin on his back with bolts of prana. Rin was careful to leave Archer's arms free, so he could deflect her magic with his twin blades, but by firing in large numbers and occasionally blasting the easiest paths, she was slowly but surely forcing him backwards.

"Hah! Hey Bazett, see, if we hadn't been unlucky, we would have won without breaking a sweat!"

The cocky voice of her Servant rang out. Bazett had tried to get him to hold her in a less embarrassing way, but Lancer hadn't budged. What he said was true though, that they seemed to have no equal. When Rider had passed over, Lancer had snarled and readied his spear, but her status as first place runner had been short lived, and the only other Servant in view, Saber, was fading fast in relation to her Servant's raw speed.  
"Do not let yourself become overconfident Lancer. Stay focused until we have won the prize." Bazett admonished her Servant. He could be a little headstrong at times. Though the Servant best suited for "survival" Lancer had little real desire to stay alive and often got involved in senseless things. He was however, big and strong and manly. Nestled in his arms Bazett couldn't help but feel a little warm at the thought of being carried away by hi...this sensation…danger?

Lancer seemed to feel it too: the second his foot hit the next platform, he immediately gathered himself to vault as far away as he could…but the damage was already done. The moment he landed, a button had been pressed, and with a giant crash of sound, the platform exploded in a shower of both fire and water, the blast sending Lancer and his Master high into the sky.

Archer dodged another bolt of mana, leaping to a platform that carried him closer to Caster, but Kuzuki immediately responded by shifting to another platform that added extra distance. He had attacked tried cutting her down with thrown swords a few times, but Caster had taken their previous fighting into account. She dealt with any blades that manifested with high thaumaturgy, and any attempt to close was met by Kuzuki altering course or Caster driving him back with excessive spell casting. Unfortunately, Caster and Kuzuki were a good team. Archer knew he could gain an edge though, if he could just find…

There!

Lancer and his Master flew overhead, rapidly vanishing behind them as they sprinted towards the goal. For just a brief moment, Caster's eyes flicked overhead to track the new projectiles, and in that instant, Archer leapt into the air, projected his bow and fired four arrows. Caster could have blocked them as she had his swords, but distracted for just the tiniest moment, her answering magic was just a hair too slow.

She was pierced, and slipped off the platform she had been standing on. Contemptuously, as he came down, Archer used her back as a landing point when the arc of his fall ended, and then he was off. A moment later, Caster and her Master disappeared underneath the murky waters.

"Archer…what was that?" Rin couldn't help but crane her neck towards where Lancer and Bazett had been blown off to. She could feel Archer shrug slightly through the grip she had around his shoulders.

"Team Lancer was blasted off it seems, be careful, I can see Saber ahead. She hadn't caught up with Lancer, and so she couldn't have done this. These platforms must be booby trapped."

Shirou felt a rush of elation. He and Saber had seen both Lancer and Rider be defeated by the course; Archer and Caster had fallen behind some time ago. Ahead, he thought he could make out the finish line on a much larger platform ahead, Saber and he could win…!

"Wait, Saber!"

Shirou called out, even before her instincts warned her, Shirou could feel something was terribly wrong. Reacting to her Master's voice, Saber leaped into the air and whirled about to face the most likely source of danger, the one Shirou would be able to sense even before she did. For Shirou, this feeling of the killing intent held a special place of hatred in his heart. It was after all, born of one despising his own mistakes and his own regrets.

"Caladbolg."

Broken Phantasm. An art so powerful even Berserker feared it, Archer knew that he couldn't simply catch Saber, and her instincts ensured they would not simply dispose of themselves conveniently as Lancer had. Therefore...if he and Rin were to win, he had to defeat Saber!

"Avalon!"

But Saber had her own powers. Warned by Shirou, she invoked the name of her precious lost phantasm, the bounded barrier that could withstand even Ea. Of course, next to that a broken phantasm was no trouble at all. Thus saved, all she had to do for victory was run towards the finish line, and she would be victorious.

…But, Saber did not flee from an enemy. Archer's challenge, her code told her, had to be properly answered.

Leaping back across the platforms, she charged Archer without slowing, to defeat her enemy, even Rin being present on his back would not sway her from accepting the challenge. There was only the feel of her blade against Archer's manifested swords. Archer was forced to fall back. He could not meet Saber's blows for more than a few moments so he had to quickly evade once she caught up to him. He manifested swords and rained blades against the armored knight, but she unfailingly dodged each attack, not even blocking to avoid facing the danger of meeting an unknown Phantasm. But Archer's performance was below his usual level. Even though he knew directly meeting Saber would have been all but impossible even if he was fully making use of Unlimited Blade Works, he should have been able to fight her more evenly then this.

Of course, his plan required her to be charging though, so it made sense.

As Archer leaped to the next platform, the one he had identified as being wobbly, easy to submerge and not capable of really supporting a Servant, he deliberately dragged his swords through the water. They were jerked from his grasp almost immediately. Saber's instincts and battle sense warned her something was wrong, but she had already leaped forward to attack. When Archer leaped off again, Saber's foot pushed the platform deep into the water. And that is when she felt something wrap around her foot. A counter blow from Excalibur proved futile, and half raising out of the water, the Shadow, dragged her and Shirou underneath.

"Archer, if you're not right, I swear you're going to pay for it," Rin grumbled with a frown as the image of Shirou's scared face was fresh in her mind. "I mean, it's one thing to beat them in a fight, but that was dirty, even for you!"

"Don't worry, Rin," Archer replied in a terse voice as he reached the final platform to come in first place. Once they were safe, he looked at her and said, "Ilya wouldn't do anything to harm the punk. She wants him to play this ridiculous game. So, in other words, nothing here can be truly fatal. I'm sure we'll see the other contestants soon enough."

"Ilya won't allow something permanent to happen to Shirou. She wants to drag him along on this absurd trip. So no matter what happens, nothing here can be truly fatal. We will see the other contestants soon, I imagine."

And he was right. Bedraggled, crisped, and sullenly the others began filing in from the other side of the ending zone not long after. How they got there was a mystery. Rin and Archer were the subject of some very hard stares. Naturally, they brushed them off, Archer with a smirk, Rin with a triumphant grin.

"Are you two okay?" Rin asked as they approached.  
Archer smirked, placed one hand on his hip, and taunted, "Did you have a nice swim, Saber? I see you were able to keep the boy from drowning."

"I do not wish to discuss it!"  
"L-Lets not talk about it, Tohsaka!"

Emiya Shirou and his Servant's raised voices rang out at once, Saber scowled even worse than she had been, and even Shirou looked angry. What had the shadow …nah, surely nothing like that! Though, she didn't even know Shirou had a vein on his forehead. In a rare irritable mood, he actually looked a bit more like the man he might become.

"And that's that~" Ilya voice rang out. Overhead, a scorecard materialized out of the cloud. On it, Rin and Archer's pictures were displayed prominently at first place with ten points, Saber and Shirou's at second with eight points, Lancer was at third place, with 6 points, Caster was in fourth place with four points, and last was Rider, who with Sakura only had two points.

"Congratulations round one winners, Rin and Archer!" Ilya's called out as the results of the scoreboard sunk in.

"Hey, Shirou and Saber didn't even finish the race? How the hell did they get second place?" Rin yelled at the sky with a scowl.

Ilya's voice was heavily mocking as she replied, "Welllll, I'm sure a genius like you would know what a ranking system is right? Or do I need to explain it to you, Rin?"

"Of course I know what a ranking system is!" Rin shouted back, hands on her hips.

Ilya chuckled and continued, "So, if someone doesn't finish, they're counted where they last fell. You and Archer obviously won, but Shirou and Saber were much farther from where Lancer got blown up. So, of course they take second place."

"Damn it," Rin said with a sigh. She looked over at her Archer for support, but the white haired Servant shrugged with a tiny half grin on his face. She lightly pushed at his chest and groused, "You expected something like this."

Ilya's voice was all but dancing as she said, "Okay! So all of you traveled a long time to get here, so I guess you guys can rest for tonight. But tomorrow you all will have to face two new games so be prepared! Oh! So you don't get bored tonight, I have arranged this fun little mini-game that will determine your accommodations! Just go one at a time through the door behind you and welllll, you'll see! "

Her voice was bubbling with laughter. "A good choice will get you a nice cottage with a freshly prepared meal provided by Sella, but a wrong choice . . . Well, it could be a Bad End.")

They all waited a moment to hear more, but it quickly became apparent that Ilya had finished her speech. Overhead, the scoreboard still showed the results of the contest. Behind them, as Ilya had alluded to, a door appeared out of another foggy mist that blew in just long enough to cloud the area and disperse. Ilya seemed to have near complete control over this land, wherever they were.

Of course, it wasn't attached to a wall, so presumably one would simply pass through it, but then again, considering the things that had occurred so far, nobody was prepared to take that for granted. Shirou stepped through first, with Saber close at his side. As he did so, a swell of mist swirled around him, and when it cleared, Saber was gone.

"S-Saber!" He called out, but didn't get a response. With trepidation, he examined his surroundings. He stood in what seemed to be a pretty clean building, with two doors in front of him, one marked with an X, one with a circle. Over them both, a card hung on a wire. Shirou took it down. It read:

"Sakura-chan has the largest breasts of anyone Shirou knows!"

The timing seemed a bit wrong, but thinking of Sakura's…development over the last year, Shirou swallowed a bit, as he tried to resist a sudden rush of hormones. What kind of question…well, that…sounded true. Even if compared against Rider, Sakura didn't lose. And of course, people like Rin or Saber didn't even need to be thought about, or fuji-nee either. He reached his hand towards the door with the circle on it, when out of the blue, he found himself picturing someone else.

"Thank you, you help me for cake!" Was one of the first things he remembered her saying, striking because it was kind of cute. _She_ was kind of cute, with that form fitting maid outfit that suggested so many things to the perverted mind, a kind atmosphere so unlike Sella's, and a body that would not lose out even to that of his kouhai. The more he thought about it, a little surprised he could remember Leyseritt's form so vividly, the more he was certain that the card was wrong.

"Sorry, Sakura" Shirou muttered, entering the door with the X on it. After another rush of mist, Shirou found himself in what looked like a simple but very cleanly log cabin. A tea kettle boiled over a fire, and sumptuous smells emanated from the kitchen.

"Shirou!" The door behind him slammed open and Saber rushed in, invisible sword drawn. She seemed to relax when she saw he was unharmed.

"I think I did it right Saber, we can stay here tonight and rest." Shirou said in response to her unspoken question. The cabin was well furnished, a pair of tatami mats was laid out in rooms separated by a cloth partition, and a small room in the back even had a tub filled with hot water they could sit in and wash the worst of the grime and sweat from their bodies. After a meal and an only slightly awkward bath rotation, as Shirou lay to sleep he was happy they had a chance to recharge, but if just one "game" was this draining, he wondered how difficult the next two would be.


	3. Chapter 3

A resounding gong sound snapped Shirou and his Servant awake. Trust Ilya not to use an alarm clock when something noisier and intrusive was a possibility. Shirou prepared a hurried and rather simple breakfast of eggs, bread and hot tea then hurried out the door. The rush of mist was almost expected at this point, but where he found himself certainly wasn't.

"Guh…!" Shirou verbalized as he jerked his leg back. He and Saber found themselves standing on a large platform over…well, the word cliff came to mind, but that didn't seem to convey the pure emptiness underneath them. The only thing he could see, even if he leaned over the edge and reinforced his eyes, was white clouds. Around him, the other Servants and Masters were materializing; most of whom also immediately withdrew from the daunting vista spread out in front of them. Sakura and Rider appeared to his left, the former offering a somewhat forced looking cheery smile, the latter looking composed and serious, as usual. Rin hadn't appeared ye…what…was _that_?

A monstrously revolting smell violated Shirou's nose, it was the odor of old mud, refuse and garbage, billowing out from another onrushing mist. Out of it, the school idol, all around perfect girl and the current first place winner, Tohsaka Rin emerged from the smoke. Shirou had never, EVER tried so hard not to laugh in his life.

Her usually pristine, raven colored hair was covered in dried mud and worse that had apparently been cared for but with not much success. Shirou could see leaves and dirt matted into her twintails, and her expression was murderous as she silently glared at the other, neater competitors. Next to her, Archer looked like he was somewhere between pitying and amused at the shocked and silent reaction his Master had received.

"Rin, what has befallen you?" Saber asked, breaking the silence with her warm voice. Shirou took a sigh of relief, glad that Saber had broken the ice. It was pretty well known that Rin had a soft spot for Saber, and would be less likely to get angry at the King of Knights than anyone else.

Aquamarine eyes seemed to burn within their setting of mud encrusted face. "How the hell am I supposed to know what a damned floppy disk is anyway? If I don't know what a floppy disk is, how the hell should I know what damned drive it goes in!"

Archer, whose face was torn between sympathy and amusement, said, "Ilya decided to pick a bit of fun at Rin by giving her a question she couldn't answer."

"I hate that brat," Rin said, all but steaming as her nostrils flared.

Shirou cleared his throat and asked, "Tohsaka, why didn't you take a bath after..._that_ happened?"

Rin's eyes misted over and she folded her arms around herself and looked away. Archer winced ever so slightly and answered, "Because the tub was apparently filled with more mud."

That was overly cruel of Ilya, but it explained why Rin had been unable to do much to clean herself up. Failing the question seemed to come with a penalty of losing some of the amenities. Shirou was curious what else had gone wrong, but he felt like his life would be forfeit if he asked.

Across the line, he could see Lancer pointing at Rin, and exaggeratedly waving his hand under his nose and making a face. Rin saw it too. Surprisingly, she just smiled back at the blue clad knight, but Shirou could feel a rise of the killing intent so powerful coming off the magus he couldn't believe she hadn't already blasted him right off the cliff. As always, Caster was busying herself with Kuzuki, Shirou could never tell what he was thinking.

"Welcome competitors!" It was strange how quickly Shirou found himself getting used to Ilya's blaring out of somewhere.

"Today's first stage will begin in just a few minutes, players instructions again are simple, reach the other side without falling!" Ilya explained cheerily. Everyone below couldn't help but wonder though, cross what? The vast emptiness in front of them didn't seem to have anywhere to go; even Lancer would just fall if he tried to leap nowhere haphazardly. But, at the same time the thought was crossing in their minds, "It" began approaching. With a wide, light green sloping top, speckled in white, glassy eyes that shone with mischief, it had stubby arms that had no fingers to speak of, it….was appeared to be nothing so much as a massive, floating mushroom.

"What is…that?" Sakura's voice suddenly broke the stunned silence.

"Oho!" Ilya called out, no doubt enjoying their reactions. "That is your ride across the chasm! But be careful…eheehee, that is a being even Servants can't hope to match, so try not to freeload to much! And with that, let round two...BEGIN!"

BLAHM!

The sound of his explosive burst of motion was easily recognizable, Lancer was first to act and immediately flew in a smooth leap towards the mushroom, Bazett situated on his back.

But…

"Guh, Gaaaaah!" Lancer's strangled cry of pain rang out and almost as soon as he had reached the mushroom thing he kicked his powerful legs off its body and back onto the starting platform. The others could instantly see why. Covering his body were smoking burns where he had tried to cling on, it seemed that Ilya's waning about staying on was well founded. They could see it sedately floating towards them, though after Lancer had jumped off it almost seemed like the light gleaming in its eyes grew brighter, amused at this development.

Now they all understood. The mushroom could ferry them to the goal, but in exchange, would cause agony. If the last test had been a contest of speed, this must be one of endurance. After all, if even someone like Lancer could be driven off, then they would only have moments before even a Servant's resolve wouldn't be sufficient.

In front of their platform, the giant mushroom slowly came to a stop, and then began drifting slowly in the direction it had come from. Saber leaped first, with Shirou clutching her body. As soon as they hit, he could hear the hissing sound as her flesh began to sear, he wished he could do something for her, but this was something she would have to bear, and he could only encourage her with her voice. Behind them, as the mushroom moved further away, the other Servants began leaping as well, having given it the maximum amount of distant before subjecting themselves to the pain. As they started to leap, Shirou was surprised when Saber began climbing resolutely towards the top of their conveyance; though behind her calm demeanor Shirou could feel her body trembling in pained protest underneath her armor.

Archer and Kuzuki leaped nearly at the same time, several seconds after Saber did. They both had waited as long as they could, but they didn't have the physical ability to wait as long as Rider and Lancer were. When they hit the main body, Archer's reinforced eyesight could see Caster's face gritting in concentration as she poured more and more magic into Kuzuki's body, but he could see the flesh of Kuzuki's hands beginning to char. Of course, Archer's own were fairing no better. To mitigate damage he projected two swords and stabbed them into the body and pushed back with his feet. Thus planted, he separated himself from the damaging aura a little bit. Every little bit helped. Finally both Lancer and Rider jumped. Rider actually arced underneath it, but she flung a nail up underneath and hung from the bottom.

Clever, Archer noted. She could swing on a fulcrum if she needed to jump again, and she could rest away from the painful body. Archer intended to duplicate the technique as soon as he could, but he could see another platform materializing out of the fog. With luck he could reach it and rest before his body gave out. Overhead, he suddenly saw an amazing sight. From her vantage point at the top of the mushroom, Saber jetted outward with an explosion of prana. Thus first to reach the resting area, she had an extra moment to recover, she was slumped over and clutching her chest, so Archer had no doubt how desperately she must have needed those spare extra seconds.

…So why then, did he suddenly feel a rush of the killing intent? It only took Archer a second to work out the nature of the danger he found himself in. Reaching the platform had allowed Saber more than just an extra second to recuperate. It also allowed her steady footing to strike back at those still riding. He wasn't the only one to realize the danger either. Around him, the other Servants bunched themselves up to leap the distance before they could be targeted by the golden sword. But Archer, and Rin too, could see that was not necessary.

Saber was targeting them alone. Shirou could feel it to. In the distance, they could see him frantically waving his arms at Saber, as golden light began to pierce the barrier of wind. Archer rocked on his sword handholds and vaulted, instantly projecting several swords and hurling them at the golden haired king. Facing Saber on even ground was an uneven preposition, but she was weakened by the mushroom, if he could get to ground, he could fight back.  
However, Saber was not deterred. Raising the invisible weapon over her head, she brought the sword down in a slashing motion.

Iron mallet of the wind king. It was a powerful burst of wind that came from releasing the bounded field around the sword of Excalibur, capable of bowling over even a Servant in a massive torrent of pure air. Archer saw his hurled blades caught up in the gust, and then he himself was to. Helpless in the air, he instantly projected Rider's nail and hurled it at the mushroom, trying to arrest his fall, but was moving far too quickly. Soon, the arc of his fall took him through the clouds far below.

"EMIYA!"

Rin's angry call erupted from behind him. The blast of air and the effects of the mushroom had started to make Archer's thinking fuzzy. A bit hazily, he couldn't figure out if Rin was yelling at Saber's red haired Master…or at him.

Behind Saber, Shirou could see the twin reds of Archer's coat and Rin's muddy shirt getting further away. He had tried to stop Saber, but she had been merciless. After they had been finished, she sat almost motionless, shuddering from exertion while the others had safely landed and passed her.

"Err…Saber, wasn't that a little hard on Tohs…"

"Shirou" Saber's voice interrupted him. "You haven't already forgotten what transpired?"

That caused the memory to come rushing back. Archer's triumphant grin, the feeling of black tentacles running over him, more every second...he shuddered involuntarily.

"…We're falling behind." He said at last, somewhat lamely.

Without another word, Saber turned and rushed off after the floating away mushroom. While Saber's blistering attack had transpired, it had slowly passed overhead and was now moving off in the distance. Kuzuki had already leaped back onto it, and Lancer and Rider were preparing to do so. With an explosion of prana, Saber vaulted the distance, and again the sound of flesh hissing filled the air.

The Servants and their Masters endured an agony of repetition. Each time they would leap to the oddly shaped ferry, hold on until their bodies felt like they were about to simply let go in spite of every scrap of will power they head, and then finally leap across, getting a few precious moments to heal their wounds with copious amounts of prana and rest. Rider fared better than the others because of her chains. Lancer and Saber simply endured through sheer willpower, and Kuzuki…

Kuzuki was only human. It happened suddenly. Nobody had realized that he had reached his limit; perhaps not even his wife knew he was giving out. But on one such jump, his hands simply couldn't hold him anymore. Though his expression never faltered nor expression of pain passing his lips, he had simply reached the far end of where even a human powered by strength from the age of gods could surpass. Wordlessly, he and Caster slipped from the back of the mushroom thing. At once, in desperation, Caster's body assumed that of a giant bat and wrapped him up, chasing after it, but in that same instant, a bolt of lightning came and struck the bat through, detonating it entirely. When the blast cleared, Caster was gone, and Kuzuki was falling. Flying it seemed, was still against the rules.

The next platform Rider swung off her chain first, gaining the rest area first. Comparatively, she was in splendid shape, because of her unique method of hanging on. She and Sakura stood impassively watching the others struggle to reach a good jumping point while resting an extra moment.

"Bitch!"

Lancer's usual good humor seemed a bit strained. Vaulting like a great jungle cat, he hurled himself next by pure physical power, and he wasn't just landing, his target area was right where Rider was standing. In his hand, the cursed lance appeared which he struck down with vigor as he crashed to earth. However, the woman in black evaded it with a spider like grace and struck back sharply with her knives. The two fastest Servants exchanged a blistering set of blows and counterblows, several dozen in the space of a few heartbeats before Saber's uncharacteristically ungraceful landing. Shirou watched the battle, almost too fast to perceive from over Saber's shoulder. Lancer's strategy was obvious and intelligent, in his own way. Rider was maintaining her vigor, the others weren't. When the race drew to the end, she would have the ability to either simply run out front and win or slay both he and Saber and win, therefore victory was only possible if he beat her now, while he still had some fighting ability. It was a very manly decision.

However, it was also futile. Maybe it would have been different if Saber had joined in, but Shirou could feel his Servant's muscles quivering through her cold armor, it was all she could do to stand up, and it would also be somewhat improper to interrupt a duel between warriors. Because of this, Lancer was being pressed back. Though his lance still possessed the speed of the gods, his reactions were just a hair too slow, just a single eye twitch from perfect. Though fighting someone like Rider was a natural fit for the blue knight, the fact was her chains were getting closer and closer, scoring on his body, while her movements were finding the gaps in his spear thrusts, and evading the death that came from each slash and thrust. Finally pushed into a corner he vaulted up towards the mushroom to buy himself a moment to reorient…but Rider moved with him. As he leaped, she swung a nail back into the underside, used the chain to shift her momentum and attacked from above hurling her foot into his chest, evading a counter swipe she pushed off his body, swung another nail, and slammed back again into his side in midair. He and Bazett were sent crashing bodily into the mushroom's burning skin.

Lancer fell. He was losing magical energy due to the repeated strikes, but he wasn't finished. He dropped back onto the platform, landing with a thud on Bazett. He obviously understood that he was about to lose, and the surge of evil intent that emanated from his cursed spear clearly signified he would go all out to win…however, when he looked in the sky to his opponent, he saw he had been beaten to the use of the trump card. Like a bright shooting star of brilliant light, barreling down on him, was Rider on her phantasmal mount. There was no way he could throw in time!

"Belle-"

Clumsily, Saber leaped back to the mushroom, as much to avoid the blast than anything, but Lancer had been pouring prana into Gae-bolg. He simply didn't have the ability to stop and get clear in time, especially since Rider had been aiming for him.

"…rophon!"

The sound was enormous, and the shockwave was so brilliant it rent the resting platform. When the dust cleared, Rider with Sakura was the only ones in sight. Dismissing her fallen opponent, she leaped up and grabbed her usual spot on the mushroom, which floated towards the end goal.

"Haaaah…..Bazett couldn't believe that she had survived. Barely conscious, her Servant hung next to her on a new outcropping that had been blasted out of the side of the wall by Bellerophon. She thought if she could just reach him, they could probably drag themselves up. They would not beat Rider, but if they could get back into it might just be within the realm of possibility to get in front of Saber. Lancer seemed to have the same thought. Woozily, he reached out his hand for her, and she responded in kind, their fingers were almost touching…

"WHAMP!" The sound of flesh striking flesh striking flesh surprised them both. But Lancer the most, as the dark, shadow colored man with the red headwear landed on and immediatly vaulted off his shoulders and slammed into Bazett.

"You…!" The stricken blue knight screamed as the impact knocked him from the side off the cliff. Under normal circumstances he might have caught himself, but after taking Bellerophon he was simply too weak and he fell again.

"Whaaa…Avenger?" Bazett cried out in mingled confusion, anger, and relief. Anger because He had knocked away Lancer, relief she could relax her aching body, Avenger had a grip on her and the mountain and was effortlessly supporting her weight.  
"Hah!" Avenger let out a mocking laugh as he roughly dragged her onto his back.

"Five Masters and their Servants, how could you forget me Master, I am crushed!" Avenger let out several more peals of cackling laughter as he carried her to the top. Far in the distance they could barely make out the mushroom getting further away. They were…..stranded.

"Now what?" Bazett asked, scowling at her considerably less desirable Servant.

"I….errr…" Avenger seemed at a loss for words.

"I…actually hadn't thought that far ahead. You know, hey, I bet if Lancer were here, he might be able to make that jump though! …Err…Master…that vein in your forehead is…getting…kind…of…"

Moments later, the second of Bazett's Servants went screaming down through the clouds.

Rider gracefully leaped the last distance. Ahead, a small hill needed to be climbed, It was no trouble, she had lost little strength navigating the challenges of the day, she had already reached the finish line before Saber and Shirou had bounced ungainly off the dirt they had crashed in as Saber had leaped desperately for the edge. When she also dragged herself over the finish line, Rider truly thought she was ready to pass out.  
_  
Excellent._

She offered a smug smile to Shirou as a gong announced the end of the second round.

After a while, the other Servants began filing in. Rin and Archer were first, Rin having added "windblown" and "disheveled" to "muddy" and looked ready to kill. Even Archer was glaring with more than usual intensity, Caster and Kuzuki followed shortly after. Caster seemed in a foul mood, but Kuzuki was characteristically inscrutable. After that Bazett and Lancer arrived, the latter leaning heavily on his spear, but he still managed a cocksure grin when he arrived.

"Congratulations on reaching the end of stage two contestants, time to update our scoreboard!"

Again, with Ilya's ringing voice, the score card for this massive game appeared. On it, the results were added to the first round. Sakura and Rider scored first, adding ten points to their previous two, making twelve. Saber added an additional eight to her original, moving to first with sixteen points. Lancer and Caster both equaled their previous scores, for twelve and eight points. And Rin unfortunately, was only able to add two points to her previous victory. She was now tied with Sakura and Lancer, with Caster in last.

"Congratulations Rider for a great victory, but, awww, everyone looks so tired~" Ilya said, a note of victory clear in her tone. At that, Archer and Rin exchanged a significant glance, Caster also looked worried. "Well, have a good rest, because round three will be beginning after a short break!"


	4. Chapter 4

Servants were creatures of considerable resilience, and it did seem like between stages they found it very easy to catch their breath. This was due to the whole area being saturated in magical energy from Ilya's workings, but when they found themselves lining up for the third event it was obvious to see that they had lost some of their stamina. None of the teams were talking or bantering anymore, and Masters were even waiting until the last possible moment to take their places on their Servants' backs.

After a brief swirling of mist, the competitors found themselves again surrounded by water on an island, but instead if treacherous rocks, there was a large bridge that spanned several platforms. It appeared to be sturdy enough to easily cross over, but on each side of the bridge at regular intervals were extremely ominous smaller platforms upon each of which was a large enclosure which held what was clearly a cannon gun. A _huge_ cannon gun.

"Welcome to stage three, Contestants!" Ilya's voice rang out, "This stage is called Between Sella and Leyseritt, but don't get any naughty ideas! The objective is easy this time: find your way across this course and reach the goal first. However there are a few surprises along the way, but your main enemy this time will be other Servants! Now, this is the last course before the big finale tomorrow, so if you're not happy with the way your score card looks, you might want to remember who is ahead of you on the charts. Also, speaking of other Servants, didn't we forget someone?"

Ilya's laughter bubbled forth, almost terrifying in its wicked glee . . .

"Well, with that, let round three...begin!"

The sound of the Servants thundering into the race rang out, this time it wasn't just Lancer, by now, all the Servants knew how the game worked. Lancer and Rider moved into an early lead. Rider felt confidant, Lancer should have been beating her in burst speed, but he had barely managed to hold even out of the gate, that beating she gave him earlier was slowing him down, now to let her top speed bring her out in front.

…! A sudden flicker of danger was Rider's only warning, jerking to a stop she threw herself in a spinning flick backwards, just in time to avoid the massive halberd that would have lopped her and Sakura in half lengthwise. Leyseritt, maid of the Einzbern castle was floating in some…weird…contraption and had come out from concealment under the bridge to her side. Rider flung a nail at the white and black clad girl, but found herself pushed back by the homunculus's forceful blows. Ahead, Lancer raced on.

Just as Rider had passed Bazett and Lancer, she had been menaced by one of Ilya's strongest allies and was now on the defensive; Bazett thought perhaps that it was a blessing in disguise that due to her Servant's weakened nature the woman in black had caught up so quickly. Ahead, Lancer was reaching another island connecting to bridge segments. The guns had stayed silent up until now, but she had a feeling...!

The explosion rattled her teeth even as it confirmed her suspicions. The moment Lancer's foot had touched grass the guns had started, and not all were firing at him, she saw several rounds targeting the servants behind. But while faster than her, the large cannon balls might as well have been standing still as far as Lancer was concerned; he skillfully and easily maneuvered his way past the first island and across the next bridge, getting further ahead. If this was all that they would face, this stage would be by far the easiest. Ahead, she could see the next segment coming up.

Lancer threw himself to the side all of a sudden, where they had, what looked like a continuous stream of brilliant mana bullets shredded the ground where they had been standing on. Ahead of them, swerving around from her concealment under the bridge, Sella rode another, smaller gunner encampment. Incongruously, she grinned at the blue knight he leveled his spear at her…and then so many bullets came out of the cannon at them, Bazett found her entire vision going white.

Shirou clutched onto his Servant's back, Rider and Lancer had quickly jumped out into the lead. He had been trying to formulate a countermeasure that might give Saber an advantage when they actually passed Rider. She shot a murderous look his way, but had her hands full with Leyseritt, who was continuing to hold the line, if only barely, against the woman in black. Shirou thought Rider would have already defeated Leys if she hadn't already been tired from these contests, but he could also see the tide slowly turning, Rider would defeat Leys soon, so he and Saber needed to strike while the iron was hot! Saber seemed to agree, finding a new reserve of strength inside her, she redoubled her speed and left the combatants behind.

Ahead…was an amazing sight. So spectacular, and so…impossible, even Saber skidded to a halt in momentary shock. The blue clad knight, Servant Lancer was in the midst of some kind of beautiful, graceful dance of death. On the second platform, several gun encampments were targeting him, but the true danger came from Ilya's other maid. Sella, on another strange carrying device like the one Leys had been riding, was spinning all around the platform; releasing was less machine gun fire and more a veritable rain of death from her main gun. But Lancer was somehow untouched. Protection from arrows couldn't accomplish that, this was pure skill, the culmination of the abilities that made him suitable for classification as Knight of the Lance. Forward and back he flipped, reversed, blocked and leaped, finding a path where none should exist, not just for him but for his Master.

It was like watching someone run through a driving rainstorm and not get wet. Finally after several more seconds he burst out of the kill zone, turning a twisting handspring to shift his momentum into his usual loping run. Sella didn't chase after him; it seemed she was there to defend that area. She instead, offered a grim smile to Shirou, challenging him. Ahead, Lancer disappeared into the distance.

"…Shirou." Saber's voice rang out, strained, but still calming to his rapidly beating heart. No more needed to be said, he knew what Saber would do next.

He clutched harder and tried to make himself a smaller target as his Servant dived into the death field Sella's master had so kindly created. Immediately the ground was rocked by a blast from one of the cannons which Saber avoided by pure intuition, Sella leveled her gun and opened fire. Saber was not Lancer, if she ever had the ability to make it through without a scratch; it had been beaten out of her over the last two days. Though her invisible sword flicked out and blocked or turned aside a great deal of fire, and her agile feet were fleet enough to evade the larger blasts, the fact was a lot of her progress was made through pure, unshakeable knightly)determination and willpower. Blast after blast crunched loudly against her small body and chipped away at her armor, blackening her arms and legs. Shirou didn't know how much more damage she could take. And she was slowing. The wave of energy was getting even fiercer, Shirou realized it was hopeless when she finally found her forward momentum halted, in another second they would be blasted back out, erasing all their gains, and Saber didn't have it in her to…?

Shirou twisted in surprise when he felt a steely hand grip his back, and saw another grip Saber's exposed arm in an unbreakable grip. Shirou and Saber both jerked back and saw in surprise that Kuzuki and Caster had come up behind them in the wake that Saber had created and were now…using her unwillingly as a sort of riot shield, protecting him and Caster from the worst of it, at the expense of Saber. Shirou was about to project a weapon and sever Kuzuki's grip when he saw Caster level her hand, magical energy forming in an obvious threat. He froze with indecision when they were jerked to the other side. Free from the damaging rain of prana, Kuzuki tossed Saber to the side and took off without a second look back.

Saber…didn't seem to be getting up.

Lancer felt sprinted on; though he had to avoid the occasional cannon blast it barely merited a distraction. Ahead, in the distance he could see a goal line in the air signaling the end of the track. He could cover the last little bit in a matter of seconds.

…But, he stopped.

And of course, the reason was very clear. Golden armor that gleamed in the sunlight, furiously spinning red sword in his hand, a giant arsenal of weapons hovering in the air behind him, the way was blocked by Gilgamesh, king of heroes. Gilgamesh's red eyes widened in amusement when he saw Lancer move into a fighting stance, as Bazett hopped off his back.

Neither Lancer nor the King of Heroes expected Bazett to assume a fighting stance of her own, even though Lancer should have.

"Lancer. This is a proper fight for me, not you, I shall clear the way." Bazett said, having apparently lost her mind. Lancer and Gilgamesh both let out a quick bark of laughter at the arrogant master.

Lancer grinned and said, "Ah, Bazett, this is a man's fight. Now just step aside and watch while trying not to get your knickers too much in a knot while I . . ."

"Lancer," Bazett's stern voice cut in. Though she looked oddly tense, there was a notable flush to her cheeks as she moved in close.

"I am aware of how difficult it would be to talk you out of a fight, However, we are now in first place, if you allow me to deal with this now, when we reach that cabin I swear I'll…" at the last she leaned into Lancer's ear and begin whispering. The dilation of his pupils and his quickly widening grin were visible all the way over where Gil was standing.

"Hey, Goldy, I am tagging out!" Lancer yelled, allowing Bazett to step in front of him."

"Hah, did she pull your chain hound? I didn't realize you could grow more unsightly! Wasn't your only good point you never backed away from a fight?"

"Aye, but in all of my existence, as either a man or a Servant, I have never once had the thought, 'Can I even get into that position?' So, she's up."

The suit clad woman stepped forward again, releasing several balls into the air as she did so. Gilgamesh shook his head.

"I know how this game works, Dog's master, but," Gilgamesh shrugged once in surprising mirth "Well, for some reason I think it would be fun to give you exactly what you are hoping for this time, so I shall honor you with my Noble Phantasm."

At that, EA, the Sword of Rupture in his hand began to spin and wake. Facing it, was the one sword known that was said to be able to defeat it in a head to head clash, defying the greatest treasure possessed by the Hero King, Fragerach, Gouging Sword of the War God. At the same time, Gilgamesh and Bazett struck out with their greatest weapons.

Lancer knew Goldilocks could be stupid, but even he was surprised at the folly he was seeing, Gil knew what he was up against, that's _why_ he was willing to attack Bazett's Noble Phantasm, but at the same time, why, this match up would end in proving EA's loss, unless…!

"Wait Baz…!"

"Enuma Elish!"

"Fragerach!"

The Noble Phantasm found its target, after all, in this match up, only one would activate, and one would fail, never to recreate a mystery, and so, its wielder's defeat would be assured.

Fragerach was the one to not activate.

Bazett only had time for a split second of disbelief before the wave of rippling energy overcame her.

…Or would have, it Lancer hadn't thrown his arms around her and spun his back to the attack, putting himself in the way, the explosion wave crashing into them. Bazett's last conscious thought to recognize the mocking laughter of the blond king who had won.

Archer had passed the first area after having evaded the combat around the furiously battling Rider and Leyseritt, but he was moving at a decent clip. His maximum speed had been traded for an extra moment to plot out the course. It had been repeatedly shown thus far that exuberance was a poor substitute for a good solid set of tactics in the last few rounds, so Archer reasoned without a doubt the same would hold true now.

"Archer, what's that?" his Master's voice had broken through his thoughts, and he looked where she was pointing. His keen eyesight could make out enough distinguishing features of the pair of tiny specs in the distance.

"Hmm, looks like Team Lancer is blasting off again." Archer replied.

"Silly rabbit," Ilya's voice broke out over the area, "Of course Master's can't activate a Noble Phantasm, duh!" She then gave a huge, rather fake, sigh of aggravation before continuing. "Servants only! And don't think about any Reality Marbles either, Onii-chan!" Sooooo, good luck!" After her tirade, her cheerful voice faded off again.

Shirou felt intermingled relief and confusion wash over him. Reliefs because Saber's eyes had finally started to flutter open, her body had begun to repair itself, he had been worrying for her safety. Confusion, because he too had heard Ilya's message, and found himself wondering why he would do something as crazy as to try and invoke the Unlimited Blade Works. Without Tohsaka's help that would be impossible anyway.

"Saber, are you ok?"

Shirou asked worriedly as his Servant began tiredly getting to her feet. Shirou wanted to tell her to rest longer, or even give up this match and recuperate, but he had learned enough about his faithful Servant to know not only would she refuse to give up on anything, but she would be hurt and angry at the suggestion.

"I have recuperated. We may continue, Shirou." Saber said. In contrast to her condition, Saber's voice betrayed no hint of doubt. But it was worth noting that she didn't argue when he turned off and set a loping pace towards the finish line instead of mounting up again.

Rider evaded a desperate final slash and slammed a key into the conveyance that Leys was riding. Whatever it was a brilliant weapon and defense system, it increased her evasion abilities substantially, many of Rider's carefully thrown nail strikes had seemed to slide right by, missing by inches, but in the end Leyseritt's reaction speed hadn't been up to par. The machine began to smoke and shake, even Leys looked worried as Rider's strike appeared to set off a chain reaction that caused the machine to twirl and rock, eventually shooting out a rush of smoke from the engine that sent zooming off in a large arc that ended in a giant splash, far out to sea. Rider found herself wondering whether she should hope Leyseritt could swim. Eh, Leys was...highly buoyant. She drew in a shuddering breath and, after looking over her shoulder to check her Master's condition, began rocketing towards the next platform, Leyseritt's intervention had put her way behind, she had to hope she hadn't been the only one delayed by the course. Luckily, she soon learned she wasn't the only one who had been held up.

It was easy to see why the man in red had been forced to stop. He had stopped just shy of a an area that looked like it had once been one of the connecting islands like the one Leyseritt had been guarding, before it had been turned to so much burned grass and ruble by repeated strikes from Sella and cannonade. Rider could see Archer's head moving slightly, measuring gun paths, and checking firing rates probably, something like that. Plotting a course, but there was another possibility.

Rider launched forward at the unguarded back of the Knight, ignoring the Master who rested there worriedly looking over the bowman's shoulder. …But, it seemed he wasn't quite as wary as he appeared, even as she lunged Archer stepped smoothly aside, projecting a set of beautiful swords, evading and counter attacking quickly with a swipe towards her stomach. Rider leaned back, but still felt a line of fire across her midriff. And at that, Rider felt herself lose control. This whole game had been just too annoying, forced to try to come from behind because her Noble Phantasm had been "Against the rules," then after gaining a win, attacked and delayed because she had the gall to be in first place. Rider felt her muscles rippling under her clothes. With a grunt of effort that sounded almost masculine, she let go the nail in her hand and grabbed that of the red knight in the middle of a follow up swipe. She saw his eyes widen as he tried to pull away, feeling the massive and ever increasing pressure surging through the tall woman's grip.

Realizing he couldn't be free, he swung at her neck with his free hand. With another growl, she accepted the blow on her shoulder and used the opportunity to grab his chest. Archer noted that the hand he could see appeared to have elongated nails, almost claws which allowed her to easily grasp his clothes. He pulled Kaguya out of her shoulder and prepared another swipe at her face when with another surge of monstrous strength, she half whirled and hurled him into the thick of the storm of fire.

It took Sakura a moment to realize Rider's strategy, if she gave the enemy a decoy target, she could cross without having to delay by dodging or finding a path, but watching her sister become a target

…Hmm?

Tohsaka Rin was a person that Sakura had been watching for years, as Rider ducked into the blast field while a storm of projectiles began to orient on Archer and his luckless servant, Sakura saw… something. Archer had his eyes closed, in the second before the mass of fire slammed into him; she could hear him intone something.

"Rho…!"

Then the explosion hit, and her vision went white. When she could see again, she and Rider were beyond the attack field, hurrying away. Archer and Rin were nowhere to be seen. But…what was it that she had seen on her sister's face? Sakura had been concealing her emotions insider her for years, and she thought she recognized that look. For just a moment, Rin had seemed almost…smug?

Caster and Kuzuki had not failed to notice the fate of the pair who had been in first place. Now they too, stood before the hero king. Once before in another time, the king had slain them both, and the smile on his face suggested he would relish the chance to do so again. Kuzuki calmly settled into a combat stance, but with hundreds of noble phantasms in the air in front of them, ready to be released at a moment's notice, Caster knew she and her master would both be skewered long before her husband's techniques would harm even a perfect hair on the head of the golden king. Of course, Caster's grand scale sorcery was sufficient to harm Gilgamesh even accounting for his magical defenses, but that was a futile plan and they both knew it. In a battle of projectiles she would be defeated without mercy, and then what would happen to her dear Master?

"Oooh? Caster?" Gilgamesh sneered, confidant in his imminent victory. "I had expected that dog would be my warm up, but you next? What happened, did you cheat?! Gahahaha!"

Gilgamash continued to laugh in mirth. It seemed the unexpected event of the sorcerer Servant being in second had struck him as amusing, if only for a moment. "Well, good job getting here, any woman should be overjoyed to be pierced by my sword, but to be honest, I don't like old ladies." Gil raised his hand menacingly in the air. Every Servant in the war knew to fear the herald of the Gate of Babylon's attack.

"Just disappear." Gilgamesh said, snapping his fingers.

However, Caster was the servant of magic; of course she had power that went beyond simple blasting magic. In fact, she had a trump card, but it was one she had been saving in this match for the right opportunity. Facing that lethal wall of blades she knew she had no choice but to utilize her abilities to the fullest extent.

"αλλάζω"

And before Gilgamesh could unleash the storm of blades, Caster's voice rung out, and changed the world.

The same fog that had announced the usage of Ilya's power rolled in, and when it cleared, the Hero king found himself on a set of stairs, leading up to a temple. At the very top, having moved from in front of him to behind him, was that Servant of magic Caster. In using her abilities to take control of Ilya's bounded field, Caster had manipulated the entire world that had been created for the Servants to do battle. In this singular moment, the bounded field of Ilya's Castle belonged to the Servant whose magic knew no equal in this modern age.

Now past the King's checkpoint, Kuzuki Souchiro turned and began to jog out of the area to the finish line. Annoyed, the King snapped his fingers. The weapons from the vault as one at the Kings wyrd turned around and were now aimed at the back of the man and his Servant moving farther away past the boundary line.

"Should have known not to rely on a weak little doll," The golden knight said, aggrieved. She said no magic would work to travel the field, unless it was an attack. No matter, the king has spoken; you will still be eradicated here."

"Huhuhuhu!" The master of magic laughed in reply replied. In exception to her previous demeanor, where she had known her life depended on the whimsical nature of the king of heroes, Caster's mocking response was full of warmth and confidence. "You know, you are right, no magic can be used unless it is an assault on a servant, ahahahaha! Good luck, Sasaki!"

Laughing confidently, Caster evaded several weapons fired from the gate by the simple means of disappearing entirely from view. Gilgamesh found himself out of sorts for a moment, worried about the meaning of Caster's words. She had escaped, and left him here, her magic had superseded the bounded field created by the Einzbern homunculi. But her last sentence had…!

"Tsubame…!"

Meant Gilgamesh was in real danger! As quickly as he could, Gil covered his head with his golden armored hands.

"Gaeshi!" three sword strikes struck his perfect armor. Each one would have taken his life if it had landed. The battle had been a match of five Masters and their Servants, but Caster was both servant and Master. That had been the trick she used, why the battle field had not interfered as it had when it had prevented Fragerach, this magic was not one that moved her or him, though it had done both. It's purpose was to call the Caster's Servant, Sasaki Kojiro to battle.

"Ah…gold man." The calm voice of the farmer who had been created in the image of the master swordsman rung out, "Sorry, but you know people who cross this gate uninvited must die. Your pretty head doesn't really count as that of a Knight, you lack honor and dignity, but I will take it as the price of being summoned to deal with you." The Servant known as Assassin said calmly, raising his sword at eye level, assuming the only stance he knew.

Gil felt a vein popping on his forehead that had everything to do with the fact that Caster had escaped, surely to win the round against the King's wishes, and being forced to deal with vermin such as this….

"Rider…" Sakura began, intending to ask if her Servant had noticed anything out of the ordinary about what happened with Rin and Archer, but quickly found herself cut off when her servant skidded to a stop, leaped behind a nearby tree and placed her hand firmly over Sakura's mouth. Exchanging a serious look with Rider that warned her to be careful, Sakura looked around there cover, and saw something that made her blood run cold.

Ahead, Saber was trying without success to drive forward. Barring her path, a golden form she knew all too well. Gilgamesh, the king of heroes was laughing as the golden haired knight pushed herself above and beyond to try and close with the armored hero. Once before, Saber had defeated Gil with Avalon, and Shirou had also been able to overcome him, but…it seemed like a worst case scenario had occurred. Gilgamesh had finally gotten a little serious; he had taken his previous battles into account. Emiya Shirou was bound arm and foot by giant chains that seemed to be suspended from the very air itself. Enkidu, which bound the bull of heaven, of course it could completely subdue one tired, red haired boy. And Saber was never able to close to the distance she needed to be at to defeat Gilgamesh. If she attempted to use Avalon, EA would annihilate her without question since she was not in a position to counter with Excalibur, even assuming the valiant knight had a use of her noble phantasm left in her.

Emiya Shirou had never felt so helpless. He repeatedly tugged furiously at his restraints, but he couldn't even move a muscle, every shift of his weight seemed to cause the chains to dig even deeper, hold him even tighter. He knew he should have been more careful! Ilya had said there was a danger, but he hadn't listened, or maybe had been a little too sure Saber could handle it. Now she the worst possible foe for her, one whom defeat meant things worse than a loss of honor, though in a sense that was involved to.

"Bwuhahahaha!" The golden king laughed as Saber was pushed back a few more steps. The problem Saber faced was each arrow was itself another recreation of a legend, another fantastic mystery, because of that, she couldn't meet even a single one with Excalibur, each one had to be dodged completely, else she risked suffering from the effects of some dangerous unknown mystery. Ironically, her master would not fear such a thing, he could instantly tell the ability of a weapon he saw, but she did not possess that skill.

"Saber, you are even weaker than last time! Were you really beaten by Lancer and Caster? Ahahahahahah! I find myself wondering if you are really a treasure worth possessing after all!" Gilgamesh seemed to be having the time of his life. And why not, this was a rematch he craved, and both Saber and Shirou were exhausted and weak.

But maybe not quite out, suddenly from behind Saber several more swords came, the exact image of the ones in front of her and slammed into them, momentarily clearing a path, Saber advanced several steps thanks to her master.

Gil stopped smiling.

"Mongrel. Did anyone tell you could interrupt the king while he was talking?" Saber could see a multitude of new weapons appearing in the Gate behind Gilgamesh. She knew that attack was not meant for her. Now she didn't have a choice. Frankly, she knew she lacked the distance and the element of surprise that had won her the match last time, but she had to attack now to protect her Master. Victory was pointless if it costs Shirou's life.

Wind exploded around the area as the magic around Saber's sword was released. Her golden sword proudly revealed its beautiful form. Excalibur, the form of the hopes and dreams of mankind, was a force that few could survive, much less withstand, but the sword that could do so was in the hands of the king of heroes. Even at her max she would not be able to defeat him in a clash of Phantasms, at best she could only hope to redirect Gilgamesh's attention to her.

Saber raised the golden sword over her head, channeling mana through her aching body and into the weapon, preparing to release the golden sword of victory.

"EX….."

"No."

Gilgamesh ordered firmly. At the King's will, several more chains manifested out of the air next to Saber. Her instincts warned her, and she tried to leap out of the way but she just wasn't quick enough. Once the first one had bound around her arms that were raising her golden sword, avoiding the others was impossible, moments later she two was bound before the golden king.

"Hahaha! Saber, I do always love seeing the bloody mess you are left in after you face my sword, but I won't allow it this time. The state you are in, if you use that sword now, you are likely to disappear. Then I would only have your master to play with" Gilgamesh arrogantly swung his hips out with meaning. "And he isn't cute at all, it would degrade me."

Gilgamesh reached out with his free hand and grasped a new hilt that obliging held itself out from the treasure vault. It was a jagged, black colored short sword, one of the Noble Phantasms that didn't look suitable for a direct for a direct fight.

"Here Saber, this is a proper tool to use on a woman!" Gilgamesh said, bringing his arm down. Though there were several yards between them, there was a rippling of air that seemed to crash into Saber. And when it passed...

The armor that had protected Saber's right arm chipped of, and there were shredded pieces of her normal clothes she had worn beneath her armor, however, the skin underneath was untouched. That didn't stop Saber from letting out a gasp of surprise and pain. This was a sword whose purpose was to remove the defenses of an enemy without killing it. Causing pain was apparently fine with both sword and wielder though. Against something like Avalon it could only give way, but Saber's armor was a lower class mystery, it could be affected.

"Ngh…Rider, can't you do something? Sakura asked her Servant, clearly distressed. They had remained hidden away from the fight, if you could call it that, but as Gilgamesh swung more and more times, slowly chipping away at her armor, causing more grunts of pain and anger from the pointlessly struggling Knight, Sakura wasn't sure how much longer she could watch without attacking, even though the gold Servant was one who could have defeated her and her Servant without even looking away from Saber a single second.

Rider knew in her heart it was probably helpless, but she couldn't ignore the pain in her Master's voice. Even ignoring the fact that this was her beloved Shirou suffering, what was obviously about to happen must have cut deep, considering her experiences as a Matou. Gilgamesh could not be defeated in a straight combat, but he was distracted, maybe she could get lucky with a single, overwhelming attack. She nodded once to her master.

Leaving Sakura behind, the leather clad Servant moved to a new vantage point, after a moment of planning, she flung the binder from her eyes, revealing her purple, squared irises.

Breaker Gorgon was itself a Noble Phantasm, but it had no power save the one to control the greatest weapon of the Gorgon. Mystic eyes of petrification, that which turned even epic heroes to stone if their magical energy was not high. It was possible, if not likely, that even the King could be overcome by her most powerful weapon, but if not, Rider was the class of trump cards, she had another weapon she could call, though using them both at the same time would exhaust her in a matter of seconds. One way or another, this battle would only last that long. She took her nail and dug deep into her neck.

The clouds parted in front of the last bridge as if to showcase the majesty of the black clad Rider in flight on the majestic steed. Once more she rode using Bellepheron to control the Pegasus; her mystic eyes radiated malice as she sought to freeze the Hero king in place for a few precious seconds as she rode him down.

For a moment it seemed as if it worked, Gilgamesh's eyes widened slightly as they met hers, and it seemed as if he truly was experiencing petrification. But in just a split second after eye contact, Gilgamesh's arm reached into the portal known as the Gate of Babylon and emerged again with a slim pair of orange tinted sunglasses shaped like stars around the eyes, which he rather casually flicked open and placed over his eyes, viewing Rider through them with a haughty expression.

"Don't…interrupt a man when he is courting, woman." Gilgamesh said, snapping his fingers.

Pegasus was torn from the sky from the rain of blades that flung at the will of the King, Rider was saved only because the majority of the weapons pieced her steed instead of her, when Pegasus crashed, and she had to flee in retreat back to where she left her Master. Sakura greeted her with a hug, but didn't seem to know what to do about the many slashes she had sustained from the King's onslaught.

"I am sorry Sakura, but we will need to wait till the right opportunity to strike to defeat him." Rider said, trying to seem in control of the situation. She rather hoped her kindly Master didn't have enough presence of mind to remember from her childhood that the best time to kill a man was right before or right after orgasm.

When Rider had appeared he had tried to use the distraction to his advantage, but the chains he was trapped in seemed to sap away his will as well as his strength, as if they restricted even one's ability to think freely. He continued trying to pry himself away from his restrains as he watched his servant being assaulted by another man. He had about one projection left in him after that volley he sent earlier. Archer could fire from the UBW almost without limit, but he didn't have that ability. Part of him wanted to fire it immediately and hope for a kill shot, but he knew he would only have one chance.

However, then something happened, that caused Shirou's mind to go blank.

Gilgamesh took another swing at Saber's chest. Warped beyond recognition, her breastplate fell into pieces and dissolved back into the prana it was formed of. Underneath it, clothes and soft white underclothes were in tatters. Shirou could see glimpses of pure white skin. Gilgamesh's eyes smoldered possessively, he stepped forward.

He was going to do something to Saber.

The bonds he was in were too strong. _So what?_

This action was certainly against Ilya's rules. _Who cares? _

It was outside of his ability. _Says who?_

Shirou only followed one rule anyway, that Emiya Shirou would be a super hero, and these chains certainly weren't unbreakable, because he had seen them broken once before…!

There was an explosion that carried the tortured sound of steel screeching in protest even as it shattered, warning Gilgamesh received that something was wrong.

Emiya Shirou charged forward out of the broken chains that had held even the bull of heaven, In his left arm, a giant club that was easily recognizable as the weapon of the half man half god who Shirou had watched achieve the same feat, tearing free of the unbreakable chains to defend someone precious. He raised the club above his head, in his mind, a firing hammer was released. He charged forward towards the hero king, whose face bore a surprised but still confidant look.

_Trigger off, Upper arm, collar bone, windpipe, temple diagram rib, testicles and thigh…_

_"_Set-Ni…"

Another explosion shook the field, this one sounding different; after all, the last one had been breaking metal, while this one had been cracking stone. As Shirou had stepped forward, prepared to defeat the hero king with the crashing speed of the gods, a single glove had fired from the gate and impacted with his upraised sword. Somehow the sword had been undone in an instant, his image of it and the berserking hero whose strength he had been reproducing had been destroyed utterly.

"Haah…!" Shirou felt his breath whoosh out of him. He had no weapon, but he was free, he desperately formed the image of Archer's swords in his mind, but…

With the disgusting sound of flesh being cut and a spray of blood, three swords came from behind him, one through each lower leg, and one through his left shoulder and sank into the ground with a thunk. The angle of the first two drove him to his knees and then the last one drove him to his hands. It was only by holding himself up by his right arm that he wasn't face flat on the earth.

"It's about time you learned to kneel, mongrel." The king's displeasure was thoroughly aroused, and he spoke with irritation verging on true anger. "The real thing couldn't beat me, and you interrupt a conversation of Kings to pretend you were a different breed of dog? I wanted you to watch me show you the difference between a mongrel coupling and the King delivering his alms, but you are an eyesore. Saber will stay around for a while after you are gone."

Gilgamesh raised his hand; several swords appeared over Shirou's head. Saber was struggling futily, trying to come to his aid, but the chains that Shirou broke had not released her.

"Just die already."

"NO NO NO!" All of a sudden, the sound of Ilyasviel von Einzbern reverberated through the area. "I don't really care what you do to Saber, but hurting Onii-chan is definitely, absolutely against the rules!" Ilya yelled out in panic and anger.

"Don't tell me what the rules are, puppet!" Gilgamesh yelled back to the sky. Considering him, yelling at the voice of what seemed to be a god seemed like a natural fit.

"I _am_ the rule…"

"…Breaker."

Caster finished for him. Well, it was obvious he couldn't finish his sentence. Not with the curved dagger slammed to the hilt in the back of his neck. Gil's mouth moved, but no sound came out. Caster leaned in very close and whispered in his ear "Sorry, but if anyone is going to take Saber away from Shirou, strip her down and make her cry as cutely as she has been, it's definitely going to be me!"

Caster wrenched her blade out from the neck of the king of heroes. Gilgamesh tried to speak again, but instead collapsed over on himself, fading into nothing.

Caster pulled off her hood, walked over to Saber who had fallen to her knees when the chains broke, and took her by the hands.

"Saber-chan, are you ok?" Caster asked in a sweet voice.

"Ngh…Shirou…?" Saber asked a bit woozily.

"Oh…right…him." Caster said flatly, she looked over and the boy appeared to have fallen unconscious after the swords pinning him had disappeared. As she looked, Sakura and her Servant burst out from cover and ran over to him. They didn't seem to be doing much useful, but Sakura was fussing over Shirou's injuries.

"Ah, he is fine, looks like healing is his strong suit. Get him over the finish line and he won't have any troubles."

Saber wasn't sure that was right, after all, she was the one who had the sheath, and yet…as she looked over her fallen Master, it seemed Caster had spoken truly, his body was mending itself as if Avalon was still inside him.

…Wait, had he given her the sheath? Or had he defeated Gilgamesh while she and Rin attacked the grail? For some reason, Saber couldn't remember. Well, it wasn't important; the important thing was getting him somewhere he could recover.

"Caster. It…seems I owe you a great debt." Saber said while picking up Shirou.

"Wohohoho!" Those words seemed to thrill caster, she actually twirled around in delight, when she was facing Saber again a small trickle of blood was coming from her nose.

"Caster-san…why did you…come back?" Sakura asked diffidently. She and Caster had a surprisingly good friendship, but it was still strange to see her act to save Shirou, she resented him.

Caster's eyes flickered to Saber, but she schooled her expression. Admitting she had been drawn by Saber crying out so cutely didn't seem wise.

"Well…any woman would stab a man in the back, if he called her old, wouldn't she?" Caster said with a superior smile. Sakura blinked in confusion, but Rider nodded sagely in response.

"The finish line is just up ahead, my Master is already there." Caster said gaily, she seemed in very high spirits.

"You already finished?" Rider asked in surprise. "And you were allowed to come back? I am surprised that wasn't against one of the rules."

"Ummm…" Ilya's voice interrupted the conversation. "Actually…it was, heeheehee. Caster-san shouldn't have been able to come back, but I thought maybe I could let it slide just the one time, Goldilocks was being a bully, so I thought it wouldn't be so bad if I…had a heart" Ilya giggled to herself again.

The team went across the finish line at the same time, though Caster did note that Rider was careful to advance herself and her Master across before Saber could carry Shirou over the line. By now it wasn't surprising when the others arrived. Lancer and Bazett simply walked up first and almost fell over in exhaustion. They didn't seem to have the energy to care about what happened to Gil or Shirou. However…

"Emiya-Kun? Emiya-Kun?!"

When Rin walked up and saw Shirou, she hurried to his side."

"What happened, is he ok?" She asked Saber, who was tending to him.

"I have restored power to the sheath, but Gilgamesh hit him with several Noble Phantasms."

"Gilgamesh?! He was here?" Rin looked around as if she expected to see another servant in the finish line. Rin could be a little silly when she was worried about someone.

Saber briefly explained what had occurred, Rin seemed mortified, covering her mouth with her hand. She looked apologetic, actually, even Archer seemed somewhat contrite, though it's not like they could be faulted for being defeated early.

"Ok, well, that match may have had some…hiccups, but it's decided now!" Ilyasviel's voice called out. "Let's see what that does for the scoreboard!" They watched as the board dropped and added the new round totals.

"Alrighty! Congratulations especially to Caster, she finished first and defeated Gilgamesh! I think her ten points are well earned, Rider, clever minx, beat Saber by a few points and adds eight more points, Saber was the last one to actually finish and holds onto first overall, with six. Poor Lancer and Bazett reached the end but didn't cross, so he only gets four, and mud girl and Archer only get two, isn't that a shame~"

The new scores updated as Ilya spoke.

Archer 10 2 2  
Saber 8 8 6  
Rider 2 10 8  
Caster 4 4 10  
Lancer 6 6 4

"Well, good luck in the minigame tonight, and try and rest up, the last round begins tomorrow, where you won't be working to earn points, you will be trying to protect them, eheehee!"

Shirou obviously couldn't walk through the mini-game door, so Saber carried him over. When her vision cleared, she found herself in a room similar to the one Shirou had described the night before. She took the card.

"Archer-chan was definitely just lucky when he killed Berserker six times, right?" After pondering a moment, Saber went to the door marked with an X and was about to open it when…

"Oh, of course that's true! Saber, go through the other door, I don't want Onii-chan all muddy when he takes me out tomorrow!"

Saber wasn't sure how she felt about cheating, but Shirou's condition wasn't likely to improve much if he ended up like poor Rin did. When she arrived at the room she and Shirou had stayed in the night before, she found some medical supplies along with their meal and beds, and treated Shirou. He roused enough to eat and find out what happened. For the one who had been injured, Saber felt he fussed an unseemly amount over her, but went to sleep again soon after. Saber herself decided to rest up to, after all, they would need all their strength to handle the last trial.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Saber would have worried more about Shirou, except he was actually the one to wake her up. The small kitchen smelled of warm buttered bread, along with tea and other delightful hallmarks of one of Shirou's breakfasts. When she looked him over upon entering the small but comfortable dining area, he seemed perfectly fine. She had been worried, since in Ilya's castle their injuries had recovered after every battle, though Masters and Servants remained mentally drained and deficient of prana spent in combat, but Shirou had not been so easily restored at the end of last match.

Saber lacked Shirou's innate ability to understand weapons used by her enemy the King of Heroes, but she suspected he had deliberately used Noble Phantasms that had prevented healing. However, it seems the sheath had been superior to those weapons. That gave her a small swell of pride. Not even the Hero King and all his treasure could stand against the power of All is an Ever Distant Utopia. Her Master would recover. That was good; this was the last battle, Berserker would be her opponent, and she needed no distractions for this battle.

"Ah, good morning, Saber," Shirou called out when she went into the kitchen. "You seemed like you needed your rest, so I took care of things. Want something to eat?"

"How are your wounds, Master?" Saber asked, taking a plate of food Shirou handed to her.

"Fine," Shirou said, having known the question would be asked. He opened his shirt and showed her that there was not even scar tissue where a weapon had passed completely through. "See? Just like always."

There had been a time where something like that would have been embarrassing for Shirou, but Saber had dressed his wounds enough times, and done other things besides, that her seeing part of his body no longer bothered him. He helped himself to something to drink and a light breakfast while watching Saber consume her portion.

Shirou had learned to not have much on his stomach immediately before a fight, since it could make him feel heavy, but Saber happily wolfed down much larger portions. The one time he had been brave enough to ask, early on in their relationship, she had angrily told him it was just to maintain a large amount of energy for combat. Even now Saber liked to claim her eating habits were for the means of supporting her energy level.

When they finished, they stepped through the door to the mist, wondering where they would find themselves next.

The answer probably should have been obvious; this was the last battle, and there was only one place left in the journey through the forest: Ilya's castle itself, the beautiful, grand Einzbern estate for which this game was named.

Even now Shirou couldn't help but stare and marvel. He had seen it many times already, but the way it soared from the forest seemed in its own way as much a callback to times of yore then did the King of Knights who walked beside him.

Of course, it wasn't too long before the others began to arrive as well. Archer and Rin were the next to arrive, Rin looked...breath taking. Her raven hair practically gleamed in the morning light, her clothes had been expertly prepared, and Shirou could smell a hint of shampoo and perfume as she walked up to him.

He was impressed, but not fooled. He had hung out with girls like Rin and her sister long enough to know that looking as perfect as only Rin could was the kind of thing that took hours of preparation, likely both last night and that morning. Washing the mud out of her hair alone would have taken a great deal of time and effort. She must have been trying to make up for the loss of face yesterday, considering how much Rin hated getting up early as she must have had to do. Thank god she seemed to have answered right this time, there might not have been anyone left alive if she had to walk around looking like a poorly made mud golem again.

Bazett and Archer were next, Bazett paid no mind to the group, but Lancer cast a long and admiring glance over Rin's way. Shirou privately thought it was a little too long and much too admiring, but it was obvious even he didn't mind it as much as Lancer's Master did. Shirou could see muscles rippling along her jaw as she passed by. Shirou actually wondered if Lancer would have been happier if Rin had gotten it wrong again, ogling her was nice but Lancer was the kind of guy who enjoyed teasing pretty girls as much as he did courting them. Maybe that's why he got along so well with Bazett.

Next were Rider and Sakura. Shirou clearly saw Sakura take a breath of relief when she saw Rin. Shirou wasn't the only one who feared the results of what happened when Rin went completely berserk. She was scary enough as it was. Rider didn't react but Shirou thought he saw a bit of consternation flicker and quickly disappear from her face. Shirou wasn't sure why, but she didn't seem as pleased. Of course, while wearing Breaker Gorgon Rider was blind, but Rin had been at least as hard on the nose as she was on the eyes, so Shirou had a bit of trouble trying to figure out why Rider might have preferred it if Rin looked bad.

Shirou's train of thought was distracted when Caster and Kuzuki appeared just behind Sakura and her Servant. When everyone arrived Shirou was happy to note that it seemed like everyone had been able to avoid a pitfall and thus there were no hard feelings. At least, that's what he thought at first until he noticed a bit of dirt on the back of Kuzuki's suit. He decided not to say anything, but Caster caught his glance and followed it.

"O-Oh! Souichirou-Sama! Please hold still a moment!" Caster hurried over and placed her hand on the back of his jacket, muttering one of her incomprehensible words. After a moment her hand shone brightly across his clothes, and the last traces of grime disappeared. When everyone looked over at her, Caster flushed red, embarrassed,

"I-I would have washed and laundered everything by hand, but there weren't cleaning or bathing facilities last night!"

Shirou noticed Lancer had his mouth hanging open, and a possibly even more lustful look in his eyes now. Made sense, since Lancer liked older women, and he had never had a chance to see Caster looking cute and flustered before.

Shirou could of course figure out what had happened, but it was actually quite surprising. Caster was an old school magus who husbanded her nearly endless magic fiercely and would not waste it on frivolous expenditures. She was the type who would suffer the indignity and sweep the temple grounds herself rather than supply Assassin the bare minimum needed to manifest long enough to do so for her. That she would use her prana stores for cleaning and grooming was completely out of character.

"Hmm?" Caster caught a puzzled look coming from Rin, probably along the same lines. "Hah! You didn't know? There is no magic that would be wasted if it was spent on Souichirou-Sama!" Caster proclaimed proudly, without a hint of shame in her voice.

That realigned things. Of course Caster was a magus, but her loyalties were clear. Because Souichirou was so expressionless, Shirou didn't know how he felt about that conversation, but Shirou thought Kuzuki should be properly grateful; in her own way Caster was even more loyal and single heartedly dedicated then his own Saber or Sakura's Rider.

"Emiya Shirou." A gravelly voice rang out unexpectedly next to him. Shirou looked with surprise and suspicion at Archer who had moved in close to him. When Tohsaka wasn't around, it wasn't uncommon for them to complain to each other, but when she was, Archer and Shirou had something of an unspoken agreement to ignore their other self.

"…How is Saber? Will she be able to hold her own against Berserker?" Archer asked at last. Shirou didn't answer right away, it was likely obvious to the both of them that Saber's magical energy levels had sharply decreased since yesterday, Archer might have been someone suitable for defeating Gilgamesh, but Saber wasn't. Her wounds may have recovered but the prana spent in combat would only restore with time, and Saber's prana needs were large.

"Archer, my health is none of your concern." Saber said bluntly.

Shirou didn't answer. Archer's Master was a friend, but he wasn't about to give free tactical advice to an enemy.

…plus, frankly, it was not something that could be kept secret. If she could even use Excalibur it would be one single time at most.

Rin and Archer exchanged a look, but before either could respond, Ilya's voice rang out…but this time, it did not come from the sky. The door to the great hall swung open, and looking all together lovely, the Einzbern Master stepped into the game. Ilya had forgone her usual dress in favor of an alluring purple bikini. Though her body was childlike, Shirou couldn't help but notice the way it accentuated her small curves and made his heart pound. Ilya seemed to smirk at the reaction she got.

"Hey, don't get ahead of yourselves everyone, I was just planning ahead, huhuhu, come in, it's time for the last game!"

Warily the Masters followed the incongruously dressed homunculus into the….castle?!

Even Caster seemed surprised at whatever magic had caused the alteration, though the castle seemed the same size outside, on the inside the grand entry hall had more than tripled in length, and there was at least two hundred meters of space.

Merrily, Ilya skipped towards the center of the room. Waiting patiently for the Master of the house were its three Servants. On each side, in their battle contraptions were the two homunculi maids, Sella and Leyseritt. Their strange machines were expertly repaired and had been polished until they gleamed. Shirou looked for any signs Leys had suffered damage against Rider, but couldn't find anything at all. Between the two maids was the figure they one and all had known they would have to face today; nobody would have been able to miss his aura as they walked in.

Over ten feet tall, grey muscles knotted and bulging as they quivered with barely suppressed fury, insane eyes that hungered only to kill for his little one, the greatest warrior of all Greece, son of the god Zeus, Heracles, class Berserker. Ilya walked up to her group and turned again to face the contestants.

"All right teams, here is how today's challenge works! Today there will be no racing or finish lines, and as I warned you yesterday, you will not be fighting to earn more points, but to defend what you already have! Your Servants will now do battle with _my_ Servants! You have the advantage in numbers, so I hope you won't cry when you lose!"

Shirou noticed how she glossed over how the Servants were all tired and weakened after days of furious struggle. Now that he was here, this had to be what the whole thing was about, proving Einzbern superiority by crushing every other Servant at once.

"In this game, to be defeated is to lose six points, which will go to me. I start at zero, of course, so you all have the advantage of numbers and points!"

There had been three games before this one and five Servants to play them, meaning there was a max of thirty points that could have been earned prior to this point, and Ilya had a maximum of thirty points available by defeating everyone. Even if someone had managed to win all three games, she would win in a score of twenty four to thirty, even more than that, if that Servant were to claim the loss of points were unfair, she would still be within her right to declare herself the winner by tie breaker by defeating that person in the last round. In other words, by defeating all Servants here, Ilya would earn herself max points and the undisputable victory.

There was only a moment to grasp the situation before Ilya raised a hand and snapped her fingers together, and everyone hastily prepared for Berserker to charge. That is not, however, what he did, although it might almost have been better had he done so. Instead, Berserker's body began to… change. He folded his legs to his chest, which began to ripple as if made of putty. Axles and metal began to appear, as did wheels. Shirou couldn't believe it, but in a matter of seconds Berserker had transformed into some kind of mammoth tank with a giant cannon protruding from what had once been Berserker's mouth, which Ilya climbed into with Sella's help. Beside him, Rin seemed even more flabbergasted then him; she seemed to have taken the transformation as some kind of personal insult.

"Wait, I dare you to try that again!" She growled at the white haired girl peeking out from over top the twenty foot monstrosity.

"Huhuhu… introducing the Einzbern secret weapon: Bersercar!" Ilya responded with glee. "Now, bystanders out of the way…!" As Ilya spoke a pink and red glass sheet of prana slammed between the Servants and the Masters, separating the two pairs.

"Shirou!" Saber called, turning back to check on her Master's condition. Sakura had grabbed onto his arm when the boundary fell.

"I'm fine" He said quickly, not wanting Saber to be distracted.

"Now..." Ilya said gleefully, rubbing her hands together, "Let the final battle for Ilya's castle… begin!"

The five heroic spirits all shared a brief look, but a great deal past between them in a short moment. They had all been bitter enemies prepared to kill or be killed in a battle for heroic pride, but each had suffered humiliation, seen friends and Masters they had sworn loyalty to hurt, and the cause of this was Ilya, who was now their opponent. Besides, the monstrous tank that had been Ilya's insane and terrifying Servant exuded an aura of danger that none could deny.

This Bersercar, as Ilya called it, simply wasn't something that could be defeated if they took it one at a time. No, this was to be a five way brawl. Each prepared their weapons of steel and magic, and then the fight commenced in earnest.

Lancer led the charge, with Saber sprinting just to his left side and the other Servants on the attack, when Sella fired one of her dizzying barrages of magical fire, bolts of prana sizzling in the air as they fired into the massed Servants. With feline grace Lancer leaped into a dizzying corkscrew that carried him completely through the storm, vaulting across one of the banisters, onto the stairs and catapulting back into the side of the Bersercar. In two leaps he had crossed over two meters in under a second and was already on the other side.

Ireland's man of light grunted with effort as he slammed the cursed spear into the side of the hulking monster, and was rewarded when, instead of a glance off of iron skin, the spear sank into the fleshy side of the car, drawing a small flicker of blood and an angry roar. However, at the same time, while parrying an overhand swipe from Leyseritt's axe and hurling himself in again and again to strike, Lancer could see that the damage he was inflicting was pitifully small. It seemed like something had changed about the Godhand. Instead of completely nullifying eighty percent of attacks and clearing the last twenty, now it was more like eighty percent of the damage was nullified. Considering Berserker's health, this was going to be a very long fight.

Well, not if Caster had anything to say about it. Seeing Lancer's attack was (kind of) successful, she used the cover from the floating prana and darted forward with surprising speed as she unleashed her most treacherous weapon. It had slain Gilgamesh, enslaved Saber, and was the only Noble Phantasm in the Servant of magic's arsenal: All Spells are Broken, Rulebreaker. It slammed into Berserkers jaw, causing blood to well out.

Then the Bersercar ran her over.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you Caster-san?" Ilya laughed, looking at Caster trying vainly to rise after being charged by the mammoth vehicle. "Silly tricks like that won't work on my Bersercar!"

Saber was forced to abandon the frontal assault amidst Bersercar's charges and dived to the other side of Ilya's vehicle, placing its bulk between her and the deadly assault of prana Sella directed at Saber after Lancer had outmaneuvered Sella's blast. Overhead she saw Rider move on with the attack. In a single kick of perfectly toned legs, Rider actually jumped completely over the Bersercar and began slicing into it from the rear with her nails. As Saber moved to attack though, the extra step she had to take moving to defend herself from Sella proved costly. Berserker wasn't in position to overrun her, but as she struck in with her weapon her instincts screamed a warning. Following nothing but her intuition, Saber brought Excalibur up to ward off an unseen danger…just as the Bersercar's eyes began to glow red.

Saber took the blow perfectly, and that was the only thing that saved her life. A surge of red hot prana burned through the air, crackling with released heat. It slammed into Saber's sword hard enough that she was sent flying uncontrollably, only to crash into one of the ornate walls of the Einzbern castle, knocking huge cracks into the old estate despite obvious wards in place, courtesy of their host. When Saber got up woozily, blood soaking her armor, it was very clear just how powerful that blast had been.

Archer knew instantly that if Ilya fired again, their impromptu team would be down to four. He hastily deflected away a few blasts of prana that were sent his way into the barrier near the Masters. With his reinforced eyes he could clearly see the way the charged prana soaked harmlessly into the defensive magic. Ilya was pressing the attack against Saber, but not with another laser attack.

It would have finished Saber if Ilya had fired before she could recover her footing, and yet Ilya seemed to be trying to maneuver to aim the massive cannon instead. Archer was willing to bet that the power of the laser eyes would be far eclipsed by the cannon in the Bersercar's mouth. The cannon did appear harder to aim, and unlike the eyes was an immediately obvious weapon, thus making a sneak attack like the one that had nearly slain Saber impossible. To compensate, it was surely a weapon of immense power.

…But, Saber wasn't evading. Feeling the challenge offered, the wind in the area began to pick up; there were none present who didn't know the feeling of the bounded field around the golden sword beginning to unravel.

"Ilyasviel, come." Saber's challenge rang out, as she prepared to meet the attack with her greatest weapon.

"Ready or not~!" Ilya said, lining Saber up with the great gun.

"No, wait Saber! Don't do it, she's goading you!" Across the battlefield a surprisingly distressed voice rang out. It was Emiya Shirou, but for Saber, it wasn't the right one.

"Archer, you are not my Master." Saber said, a slightly uncharacteristic edge entering the usually reserved swordswoman's voice.

There was a litany of unvoiced complaints towards the red Knight that was so different from the kind boy she knew, yet bearing his countenance and name. Besides, it didn't matter what Ilya was doing. The enemy was in front of her, she would cut it down with her holy sword; it was that simple. Archer looked over at Shirou. If Saber wouldn't listen to him then…!

Shirou froze in a moment of indecision that might have proved fatal. He could see Archer was right. Ilya was provoking Saber, but on the other hand, he trusted his Servant's instincts. If she thought now was the right time then…

"Emiya-kun, warn her off!"

The voice of the raven haired magus who instructed him in magic snapped him out of it. Rin had a strange look on her face.

"Not yet, Emiya-kun!" Rin pleaded again. Her expression was tight, but there was something about it which asked him to trust her, which also meant trusting Archer, because they were a team.

But Rin and Shirou were a team too.

"Saber, dodge it!"

"To late Onii-chan!" Ilya said, stretching her arm out in command. "Panzer four, FIRE!"

From its mouth, the Bersercar fired a beam of white hot prana so vast it was larger than Saber herself. Berserker did not have a traditional Noble Phantasm as the Servant of madness, but here, in this place, his amazing MGI was now provided with multiple outlets, and the blast that came forward hungrily to wipe out the tiny Knight in front of him had all the power of a great Noble Phantasm.

Saber had zero seconds to act, her speed was not high enough to avoid that blast, and because Archer had made her hesitate it was questionable that she could even oppose its power with her own weapon. …But, her Master had ordered her to dodge, and so…!

A blast of wind filled the room: the barrier release of the golden sword Excalibur. A powerful attack, but not a weapon that would ever defeat Berserker, let alone Bersercar's beam. Saber was aware of this fact, which was why she aimed it not at him, but at herself. The room was filled with hurricane level winds and the structural supports cracked as Saber surpassed the speed of sound, throwing herself to the side with all the power of the Wind King. She only just made it; the smell of heated iron filled the air as proof of just how close the heat had been to her armor.

Shirou realized Archer had been right, that blast had been completely insane. Saber was too weak to attack with Excalibur more than once, and that blast had been so powerful… even if the light of Excalibur had been superior, the Bersercar was massive and even better at soaking in damage then Berserker had been. That was Ilya's strategy. Whether Bersercar or Saber's attack had proven superior, when the light died, Saber would have been defeated and Bersercar would still be alive. It frustrated him that it had taken Archer and Rin to see through it. But Saber was still ready to fight, sword glowing proudly, unconcealed now, and she wasted not a second in charging forward to attack once more.

She wasn't alone, in a show of force unseen in the entire holy grail war, as one, the five Servants threw themselves at Ilya's abomination, fighting their way through looping swings from Ley's halberd and withering storms of prana from Sella's cannon, driving their weapons again and again into the vehicle's side. But because of the mighty life of the famous Grecian hero, bringing down what it had been turned into was slow going, and the heroes were like wolves trying to bring down a buffalo.

"Ngh…!" Ilya cried out from her perch, seeing the coordinated effort beginning to bear fruit. She could charge forward or swing the car around and try to run her foes down, but they were beginning to learn the trick of moving in and out, avoiding her rampage, and staying far enough behind her to avoid her prana blasts. While Sella and Leys were able to prevent them from setting up the more powerful attacks that might seriously injure her weapon, it was still vexing that they were able to score at all.

"Don't get too cocky!" She cried, slamming her hand down on a large red button on her dash board. That's when the party learned Bersercar had another, even greater weapon: the third and final ability. It seemed to shift its weight up and then slammed down, all tires blasting out extreme levels of prana in a three hundred and sixty degree blast that swept all the attackers off their feet and sent them slamming into the walls scattered around the room. When they all wearily got back on their feet, one thing was clear.

_We are losing, _Archer thought. Oh sure they were cutting it, and they were a group of mighty heroic spirits that wouldn't go down easy, but the playing field was tilting increasingly against them. Ilya's weapons could kill an unwary Servant in a single strike, while even if they unleashed Noble Phantasms of their own, without a really solid strike they could do little more than anger their opponent. It _had_ to have a weakness. Archer pulled back from the fray a bit, watching the way the Bersercar, driven by its Master, skillfully pushed back wave after wave of attacks, driving Servants who attacked it forcefully into walls or to the maids, who could be almost as dangerous if one's attention was to focused on defeating Ilya.

Archer saw a dangerous situation develop when Rider dodged away from a swipe from Leys, only to be driven into the path of the laser strike Bersercar fired from his eyes. She nearly managed another perfect dodge, but the beam trajectory swung wide and seared her leg. When she took a hobbling recovery step, Archer half expected in that moment of weakness Ilya would cut her down with another beam, but instead Ilya drove forward with intent to run her over, and Rider was able to evade by leaping off her other leg.

...Archer blinked in sudden realization. It had done the same with Saber, when instead of firing again, which would have defeated her without having to trick her into using Excalibur, Ilya could have finished her off with another laser, but didn't. That was the key; it wasn't able to instantly regenerate the prana for each attack!

Now that he realized its weakness, Archer could even see the way Ilya was staggering her prana blast abilities: here a laser, there a cannon blast, then a prana explosion, each allowed a few moments to separately regenerate another attack. That provided an opportunity, but not a game changing one. They still needed some kind of opportunity or opening. He leaped forward to attack again while trying to devise a plan.

Caster had had enough of being shown up in a magical contest by an upstart doll. Firing A rank spells one after another, she had scored repeatedly, burning and charring away flesh but never impacting deep enough to more than sear. But she was the Servant of power, and it was time to remind everyone what that meant. Sliding into a lull created by a twin attack from Saber and Lancer, Caster uttered a mystic word from the Age of the Gods, and the Bersercar found itself weighed down by purple chains that increased the weight of its body. The spell wouldn't last long but even so, the annoyed Ilya tilted the wheel and spun into Caster.

…Or at least, where she had been. Teleporting high into the air while Bersercar was trying to recover, Caster summoned her large witch's staff to her hand and directed it towards her opponent. On sides the black cloak she wore flared out, showing countless runes engraved into the surface. Rain of Light, one of the most dangerous abilities of Caster, an attack that could unleash a powerful series of fully A rank spells in impossibly quick succession. She was not, however, targeting the Bersercar.

Ilya rode the car as Master and driver, and Caster preferred in all fights to take the Master over the Servant. Recognizing the danger, Sella sent a flurry of prana towards Caster, but she merely swept her wand and deflected them with her own magic while more and more prana pumped into her spell work. Finally, the rain began, sending spell after spell towards Ilya, Bersercar roared in frustration, twisting against the magic that bound him. For a moment it seemed Caster might win in a single bold move as Ilya held up her hands as if to futily protect herself against the danger.

It would seem, however, that this eventuality had been prepared for. Moments before Ilya was burned to ashes, the expertly woven magecraft began slamming into a shield which seemed to extend above Ilya's secret weapon, protecting her from instant defeat. Caster, however, was not perturbed; she could see that the magic protecting Ilya was weakening, and the Servant redoubled her efforts. The Bersercar finally shook off the magic pinning it and spun half way around as if looking for a way to attack Caster, for once free of the other attackers who had been forced to retreat because Caster's attacks were indiscriminate, as likely to burn an unwary ally as strike against the monstrous tank or blast away Ilya's shield. However, finally it was able to draw far enough back, and unleashed a red blast that looked to vaporize Caster out of the air.

If anything, this only made Caster smile more. As soon as she saw the Bersercar positioning herself, she etched into the air with her staff a symbol which immediately formed into a 5 sided pentagram which caught the ray, but didn't dissipate it. Oh no, it didn't, because that would be a waste. Ceasing the rain of mighty spells, Caster again leveled her staff, the captured magic twisted and added to her own, forming a great blue swell of magical energy that would annihilate anything in its path. Far beyond the spells of Rain of Light, this was a great magic that challenged the idea magic could be so easily quantified into simple ranks. She would create a blast that would win her this battle where every other supposedly stronger Servant was so pitifully failing.

Ilya saw Caster forming her spell that would break through her defenses and smash her into pieces along with her vehicle, and for the first time in the battle her childlike face clearly showed distress. She backed Bersercar into a corner, but was not able to fire again in time as Caster's magic grew larger and larger.

"Let's finish this!" Caster said, unleashing the ritual magic.

"Now!" Ilya cried in response, not to Caster, but to her loyal Servant.

In response, the Bersercar did something nobody could have anticipated; it hunched its front end down for a split second and then kicked itself nearly upright onto its back tires! It was quite ungainly and obviously off balance, but the impossible movement also brought the main cannon directly in line with the death that was approaching, and it fired in reply. The massive cannon blast impacted directly against Caster's magic. Though strong, it was clearly a mismatch, the blast from Ilya knocked apart and scattered the giant swell of prana Caster had created and continued without slowing to slam into Caster, sending her burned and defeated to the ground as Ilya cheerfully claimed her first win.

"Haha! This is fun! I know your every move!" Ilya said, raising her hands into two V signs for victory. "Woohoo, six points to me!"

Archer blinked. While the other Servants rushed into attack, he went over to where Caster fell. The germ of an idea was beginning to form in his head. He checked her condition. She wasn't dead, amazingly enough, but she was unconscious, or close to it, all her body's prana seemed to be invested in healing herself. It wouldn't matter if they were defeated, Ilya would finish her off, and Caster was effectively out of the fight.

_Dammit! _If Caster couldn't do it…

Archer looked over at the other combatants, they were heroic spirits, their will would never break, but there was a difference in the battle now, as Ilya and the spirits twisted and attacked each other in a dance with death. Where before, the Servants had fought with rock solid resolve to defeat a powerful foe, now they fought with grim determination as they followed the instinct which comes from deep within a true hero, the one which calls for them to die fighting, wounding their enemy with their last breath.

Archer never had that; he only had his ability to plan for battle, but in this case his talents would bring about a more favorable end.

But in order to bring it about, he needed someone.

"Lancer!" Archer yelled, forcing himself between a burst of bullets from Sella and slamming his back into Lancer who had been fighting Sella and Leys at once. He began deflecting the attacks that would have endangered the blue Knight from behind with his short swords while he called to the Irish hero.

"Got anything left?" Archer said, maintaining the defense.

"Keh, my corpse will have more fight left in it then you!" Lancer said, still cocky despite the grimness of the situation. Ilya seemed to sense something was up and sent a blast from the cannon at the two heroes, but they saw the attack coming and broke apart, meeting up at the monster's backside.

"I will clear you a path, and while they're distracted I need you to hit her with everything you got, like Caster did, from above!" Archer said while striking deep but ultimately ineffectual blows into Ilya's tank.

"Hah! That makes no sense! She'll burn me from the air!" Lancer laughed off the suggestion while attacking as well.

"Probably, yes!" Archer replied, catching a bit of Lancer's brashness.

"You are crazy!"

"Probably, yes!"

Lancer shook his head as he twisted into the air to avoid a slice from Leyseritt who had pursued them, then, despite the heat of battle, took a hand off his cursed spear to tap two fingers onto Archer's head.

"You think waaaaaaay too much, and are too cocky besides! Well, lucky for you Archer, going all out is just my style!" At that, Lancer gathered himself and leaped back, all the way to the other side of the great entrance hall, several hundred meters distant.

The air in the room changed as Prana was forced into the cursed spear. Seeing the activation of a Noble Phantasm beginning, both Leyseritt and Sella turned to attack… or they would have, if not for the storm of blades that suddenly appeared from thin air.

Everyone looked back, almost in fear as if the King of Heroes had entered the fray, but Gilgamesh was not the source of this latest development. Archer, the blacksmith hero, had raised his hands and invoked his greatest powers. This was a rain of blades that lost nothing even when measured against the Gate of Babylon. It was an amazing example of prana, an attack like this could surely only be held for a few seconds at most, and yet the storm only grew. Leyseritt and Sella found themselves forced to each side of the room, having to continually move back to avoid being cut down. Ilya, in her weapon, watched her magical defenses strain against the sudden attack from the red Knight.

Against her shields, she could see swords, spears, hammers, but even besides the traditional weapons, there were mixed in things like plates, forks, knives, as if Archer was literally projecting anything and everything he could think of and hurling them at her while Lancer built up prana. Had a kitchen sink slammed into her protective shield, she wouldn't have been surprised at all.

At first she thought she could wait it out, but when cracks started to form, she felt fear mix in with vexation. Where had Archer gotten all this prana? Instead of decreasing the attack was actually growing in scope and number of objects! A fork slammed into the chair next to her, quivering maliciously in the seat. It had pierced her defenses.

"Stop it Archer!" Ilya cried in alarm, but he only grinned at her in reply.

Feeling herself about to be driven into a corner, Ilya slammed her hand into that red button, unleashing a torrent of prana that blasted away the onrushing flood of swords… but somehow it seemed like that was exactly what they were waiting for! Ilya watched as Archer widened his arms and the flood of swords storms began to separate like the red sea before Moses, adding even more weapons to those attacking her maids, keeping them harried and at bay. Through the separated path, Lancer blurred forward like a beam of light given flesh. He vaulted into the air, emanating wave after wave of furious prana.

"Gae…!" Lancer said, releasing one final swell of prana, Ilya saw the attack coming and wasn't sure if she would make it in time!

"Block it, Bersercar!"

The great tank pitched itself up as it had before, wobbling, but blasting a wave of energy that struck out towards the blue Knight, just as he unleashed his greatest weapon

"Bolg!" Lancer exulted, hurling the cursed lance at the homunculus girl.

But, the result was different than before. When Ilya's blast opposed the weapon, the released energy in both attacks exploded in a torrent of power. Lancer had deliberately charged the prana inside the spear by applying a Rune to his weapon. When it had opposed the Rho Auis, it had torn through trying to strike the target, but this time, it detonated at first impact due to Lancer's runic magic filling it, and the resulting shockwave of prana and wind slammed into both Servants. Lancer was sent broken to the far side of the castle, as much a victim of his own attack as Ilya's, but this time Ilya wasn't able to laugh at her newly acquired six points.

When the prana washed over Bersercar, it nearly knocked it out, and Ilya felt the heat right through her powerful wards. Her Servant struggled mightily to maintain its balance, and even its consciousness in the wake of the Man of Light's final attack.

Archer saw the final spin Lancer had applied to his desperate plan and was glad for it; Bersercar was kept off balance for a critical extra second.

"Rider!" He called out to the nimble Servant of steeds. She nodded in reply, understanding the situation and his intent. She drove her nail into her throat, instantly forming a mystic circle of blood in front of her.

"None can stand against my charge." Rider said, setting herself firmly against the maddened Servant who opposed her.

From the circle, a glowing beam of light sprinted out, even faster than ever before as it rode down the struggling titan. But Bersercar was Heracles, the mighty hero of Greece, and he would never fail to defend his Master even to the last breath. Bersercar's eyes lit up and even half conscious, sent heat burning into the magical defenses of the Pegasus. Pegasus still slammed into its chest and lifted him almost vertically onto his back tires, forcing it to struggle not to tip over onto the small girl he was trying to win the battle for, and arced up into the sky, a ray of light trailing fire and smoke, the price it had paid for its attack.

"Now..." Archer called, intending to call out to Saber, but she was already moving. Where Archer fought using a plan for battle, Saber was a being that knew only victory. The path of battle was not something that played out in her mind; it was engraved into her very soul. Her metallic footsteps crashed loudly yet gracefully as she broke into a run, the golden Sword of Promised Victory held at the ready as she charged.

"No…!" Ilya cried, seeing Saber run forward, she looked to either side, but the wall of swords was _still there. _Even while planning the attack Archer had maintained his own assault on her loyal maids. Though they tried, Sella firing into and through the storm while Leys hacked and cut and even sliced herself up trying to reach her Master in her time of need, they couldn't pierce through!

Back behind the barrier, the Masters saw the situation developing; Bazett lost a bit of her usual cool and was the first to speak.

"The timing is right, she's got it!"

"Archer, hold them off!"

"Senpai…!"

"…"

"Saber!"

"UWUUUUUUUUUUUUUAH! "Saber cried, the thrill of battle giving her feet wings and allowing her to ignore, for a moment, her injuries

Ilya panicked, hitting every button on the console, the Bersercar's eyes lit again, trying to burn the knight away, but it had no energy. It tried to release a flood of prana to push her back, but it had just used that to stop the swords. Even if it could have gotten into position, its mouth cannon was empty as well. As the tiny blond knight, illuminated by the glow of her upraised Phantasm, stepped close, Bersercar desperately tried to swivel his body back down, ready to crush her small body with his own if need be, realizing with his own instincts the danger he and his Master were in.

Saber channeled everything she had, all the prana she could force out of her body and into her sword, feeling herself finally step into the one place on the battlefield that might mean victory, and swung her blade down.

"Ex…!"

Outside the castle, the day was beautiful and tranquil, the battle had lasted a great deal of time, and night was beginning to fall. There was no sign of the conflict that raged within.

Or, there hadn't been, because all of a sudden, one of the front walls bulged from within like water filling with a bubble of air, and then burst and exploded, pushed aside by a great beam of golden light that vaporized a cloud and continued on into the evening sky to disappear among the stars, as if to proclaim that not even the sky itself had the right to stop its passage.

Berserker had in his time, been both a valorous hero and mindless animal. When he was called to serve his little Master, his sanity was taken away by her willfulness. He never complained, for he loved his little charge, and if he were to have no sanity, then he would cast his mind away and replace it with nothing save the desire to protect this dainty little thing he had been entrusted with. Even when his body was pushed and changed into a massive, ungainly weapon, his mind had no room for dismay at what he had become, and he had fought with everything he had against many powerful enemies.

…But, no more.

The cloud in his minds parted a little, and he remembered a time where a bloodied and dirty Knight had cut him down. He had felt no pride loss in losing to a powerful foe, that was the nature of being a warrior, but… it had been vexing to lose to a lie. A boy had given her an imitation sword, it had been powerful, but only an image. And he knew now, that even that sword in all its glory was nowhere near the level of the golden blade he had just met. Last time he had congratulated the knight on his victory, but his transformation had robbed him of the ability to speak even more than his madness had.

But… as he felt his consciousness begin to fade, he felt that if he was to be defeated, at least he could be defeated by the truth this time. That golden sword was a weapon worthy of defeating even Zeus's son.

With that thought, the great warrior, the Einzbern Secret Weapon, fell into two seperate pieces, and the battle for Ilya's castle was over.


	6. Chapter 6

"…Ah…"

The tiny girl had been spilled from her position of command by the golden sword. This might have been a situation where action and spell power was the best response, but she seemed stricken with surprise and dismay, looking at the broken heap which had once been the Servant she had never stopped believing was the strongest.

As the battle concluded, Archer let his weary hands drop, ceasing the endless rain of weapons that had given Saber the opportunity to end the war. Thus freed, Leys and Sella, Ilya's ever loyal servants went to her side and faced outward against the Servants and their Masters. But it was a futile gesture. Though powerful and unflinching, even with the weapons they sat on increasing their abilities, as well as the fact that the Servants were all tired and bereft of prana, the fact remained that if the heroes decided to take revenge on Ilya there was only one way the fight would end. Still, Lays and Sella were prepared to give their last breaths to defend their master.

It did seem like a battle was brewing, but then Saber simply collapsed on herself and fell over. Freed from the curtain of prana by Berserker's death and Ilya's resultant shock, most of the Masters ran forward, though Rin was nowhere in sight. Shirou was the first to reach the scene, cradling Saber in his arms, worried about her disappearing after spending too much prana. The scene was rather touching, but then…

"Aww, dammit!" Ilya exploded, going from catatonic to bitch in three seconds flat. "Berserker wasn't supposed to lose! Argh, that drives me nuts!"

Ilya slammed her hands down on the ground she rested on, frustration verging upon madness warping her usual pristine beauty.

"Onii-chan, I won't forgive even you for this, not again! GRAAAAH! It's still my victory if nobody survives!"

Shirou was slow to react to Ilya's dire warning as he was fussing over Saber, but as he processed what the Einzbern Master had said, he looked over to her in alarm, only to see her yank the red button from the heap that had been the Bersercar out of the wreckage and trigger it with a grim smile.

Shirou's instincts were nowhere near Saber's, but even he felt the immediate danger that he suddenly found himself in. The castle began to shake and twist on itself, and a scary rumbling sound began to echo through the area.

The entire land they had been fighting in was a bounded field created by Ilya for the purpose of playing in, so of course if she wanted to she could shut it down. Scooping up Saber, who was barely conscious, into his arms, Shirou made for the door in a panic as Ilya's Castle began to collapse, though he was soon outstripped by the Servants who could themselves carry their Masters out.

He arrived late outside the building, unable to keep up with Servant reflexes and speed. As he made his way down the steps he could already feel a sense of mortal danger building behind him, he wasn't even going to come close to escaping…!

HIs thoughts were interrupted by the squeal of tires, a completely unexpected noise at the foot of the castle neck deep in Ilya's play land, In a handbrake turn around the side of the building came Tohsaka Rin in an attractive classic pink convertible that somehow she seemed right at home in. She was even wearing a dark set of sunglasses. The car swerved to a stop right in front of the steps.

"Emiya-kun!" Rin called rather unnecessarily, as Shirou was already climbing inside and tossing in Saber's semi-conscious form.

"T-Tohsaka, where did you…" Shirou started as Rin shifted gears and gunned the engine loudly.

"I pinched it; Rich people always have nice cars!" Rin said, with a triumphant air that seemed just a little out of sync with the current desperate situation.

Shirou struggled to hang on as Rin began to drive through the forest at breakneck speed, at times only inches away between the trees of the forest. Though when they had fought their way through the game the area had been filled with many dangerous and varied areas to claw their way through, as the bounded field unraveled and reality began to assert itself, it was clear they were moving through the usual grounds of the Einzbern forest that began to appear between swaths of mist.

Around him, he could see other Servants trying to carry their Masters down, and behind them all, he could see the bounded field truly unravel. The castle itself was swallowed into a dark void. What happened to his sister he couldn't say, and from the black hole which had once been the Einzbern estate, the ground to begin to collapse into void, spreading out and beginning to chew away the scenery that had once been the game. Shirou wasn't sure the devastation wasn't catching up. He looked worried at Rin, but her face was already a knot of fierce determination, her mouth set into a grim line as she coaxed the maximum amount of speed possible from the old but powerful car.

For the life of him, Shirou had no idea where she had learned to drive like this!

Off to the left, Archer was playing defense. In addition to the carnage from the falling ground, there were also large rocks falling behind and around them, the precursor to an avalanche forming as the grounds began to sink in on themselves. As rock and debris neared the car, he would cut it from the air or shoot it with arrows from his futuristic bow. Despite his exertions earlier, he seemed to still have plenty of strength for the task of evading the danger and protecting his Master. For other Servants, this was not always the case.

On one side of the car, Shirou could make out Rider carrying Sakura in the distance. Though Sakura was an exceptional Master equaling even her sister, Rider had used her Noble Phantasm many times recently and had fought bravely in the battle against Berserker. The Greek Heroine was finally beginning to give out. Normally she would have left the car in her dust, but as she was she could barely keep up as she ducked and leaped over obstructions in her escape. Seeing Shirou wave, she began to arc her path towards the car, and with a tired heave dumped Sakura into the vehicle. Sakura appeared to be unconscious; perhaps Rider and Sakura had been hit by some of the falling debris, she had pulled Sakura out first and should have been way ahead. Shirou could only imagine the herculean effort it would have required for Rider to right herself and still try to mount an escape.

So lightened, she was able to join Archer in protecting the car from danger while running alongside it, Though, to be honest, she looked weary enough Shirou half expected they would need to pull her in as well. Looking the other way, Shirou saw a dangerous situation develop.

Lancer was a Servant of almost inhuman willpower and was carrying Bazett; having awoken at some point after Shirou had left. He was practically a corpse, literally charred and still smoldering after the battle. Shirou could clearly see he and Bazett in the midst of some kind of heated argument even as Lancer tried desperately to save his Master. Bazett seemed to want to get down and run, but despite her good qualities she was only human, her only chance was Lancer's unsteady legs. Still she seemed desperate to try to run on her own two feet.

The reasoning was increasingly clear, they weren't going to make it. Lancer was the Servant of speed, but he of all the Servants had given the most. Happily, he had used every scrap he had to fight and win, even going so far as to take the power of his own cursed lance in order to give Archer's plan a chance, and the damage was simply too much. Like Rider, Lancer saw the car speeding away and began arcing closer to it, but behind him, the yaw of the pit forming where the ground was ripping away seemed to hungrily speed up, nipping at his heels.

Finally, in one horrible moment, the ground spread to the point where he was about to put his foot down, Lancer began to fall. At the last second he hurled Bazett from his arms into the vehicle. The motion saved Bazett, but forced him even further backwards, robbing him of his last chance to right himself, and then Lancer was gone.

Woozily, Bazett seemed to gather herself as if to follow after him, but Shirou and Sakura pulled her back and held her in her grief, while Rin desperately hit the gas in trying to outrun the devastation that edged closer and closer to the car. Shirou leaned outside the passenger side to see that the ground was no longer visible behind, any second now the back tire would lose purchase and then they would follow Lancer…!

Just as the weight of the car shifted, signaling the last moment, there was on odd pulling sensation, like trying to push one's way through a wall made of tiny threads. Shirou saw the approaching path of ground twist and distort as they passed the edge of the bounded field. Looking inside through the slightly misted edge, Shirou gratefully saw the ever widening path halt at the edge, for a moment he had feared it would follow them.

Shirou finally breathed a sigh of relief and was about to check on the others when Rin let out a strangled noise and threw the car into a hard ninety degree swerving brake. Shirou looked up with worry only to see a horrible emptiness come up behind Rin as she fought to come to a stop. The car had popped out of the bounded field onto a large hill that verged on being an out and out cliff, if they went over; things would be bad with most of their protectors being too tired or out of position to help.

The car shifted and bucked as it came parallel to the edge, stopping just inches before the brink on Rin's side. Both of them sat breathing hard for a moment contemplating what had nearly happened.

"Nice… driving… Tohsaka…" Shirou said in between breaths. Rin didn't reply, but she beamed at him, exhilarated. After a moment where they stared at each other Rin caught her breath, and, still grinning in the aftermath of the adrenaline rush cocked her head at Shirou.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" She asked.

Shirou blinked and felt himself flush a bit, there was a nice feeling in the air, Sakura was unconscious and they were both feeling good…maybe Rin wanted a kiss? Shirou's heart thundered in his chest as Rin let go of the steering wheel and reached toward his face…and thunked him on the forehead with her palm.

"Emiya-kun, get out, I can't get out on this side!"

"Oh…er, right…s-sorry, I am sorry, Shirou stuttered as they piled out of the car.

To cover his embarrassment he grabbed Sakura while Rin grabbed Saber. They took them out and laid them against a nearby tree to recover.

It was then Rider and Archer came over the side of the cliff and popped out of spirit form. It said a lot about their condition that it had taken them a few moments to arrive. When the bounded field had ended their position had been a little bit different, but they knew where their Masters were and had no trouble finding them. Archer, seeing Rin was fine, merely stopped and observed the scene, though Shirou noticed a small but certain droop in his shoulders. Like the one that might have come across his own if a relieved sigh had tried to force its way out of his body.

They regrouped to check on everyone's injuries in the aftermath. Bazett had to be led out by hand. Ever since Lancer had vanished, she had been silent and still, not even responding a bit when they had escaped the danger or nearly tipped over the cliff. When they took her out she just crossed her arms looking back towards the bounded field they had left.

"S-senpai…?"  
Shirou heard a familiar and welcomed voice distract him from Bazett, he turned to his purple haired friend. She was rubbing what was probably going to be a nasty lump.

"Are we the only ones who…made it?" She asked diffidently.

"No." A somber voice answered, prompting them all to turn in surprise. Climbing up the back side of the hill came Kuzuki-Sensei, with Caster unconscious on his back. The group waited, expecting more, but instead he just walked over and moved to lay Caster near Saber. As he did so, Shirou saw a small pinkish purple charm on a chain fall out of his shirt to dangle. It said one word, "Safety."

As a human, escape should have been impossible, even ignoring the falling debris. Even for someone like Kuzuki, keeping up the necessary high speed movement for that long shouldn't have been possible, especially since it was very likely the majority of Caster's magics reinforcing him were dissipating. But she must have prepared a protection charm prior to the battle. Trust Caster to cheat for her Master. Kuzuki folded the charm back into his clothes.

Shirou noted instead of joining the others he stayed near his Servant, he was a bit leery of having Caster and her Master near his Servant, but it didn't seem like they meant any harm at the moment.

"L-Lancer…"Bazett said, it was her first words since it had happened.

Maybe hearing someone show up unexpectedly had gotten her hopes up. They all looked back through the filmy bounded field towards the wreckage that had once been the mini-game.

"Lancer got killed… you bastard, Ilya..." Bazett said, a hint of real anger coming in under her sadness. Overhead, a shooting star passed by, They all watched it fly into the distance, oddly reminded of the Knight whose fire had always burned bright, but brief.

"Heeeeeelllllloooooooo contestants!" At that somewhat familiar sound, the other Servants got into tired but threatening combat stances, looking up at the sky in reflex before realizing the voice had come from the next arrival. Ilyasviel von Einzbern, flanked by her two white clad maids, was standing at the edge of the cliff side. The noise was enough to shake Saber awake, who, after only a moment to assess the conversation, hurriedly put her tired body in front of Shirou's.

There was a moment of shock where they just stared. Not only had Ilya survived, but she had actually changed into her usual snow white dress, and the maids as well were wearing clean and pressed clothes. While the others had been fleeing for their lives,

Ilya and the others had been _getting changed._

"Ilya… how did you even…" Tohsaka Rin was the first to speak, astonishment and vexation clear in her voice.

"Tch, it's my castle, you didn't think it would threaten me did you?" Ilya stuck her tongue out at the red clad magus.

"Argh, but even I couldn't bring Berserker back after he had been cut in two…"

Ilya's face clouded over.

"Onii-chan, you are so mean! How could you beat him again, it's not fair!"

"O-oh, err, sor…" Shirou began, reflexively trying to head off one of his sister's tantrums, but he was cut off wordlessly when as one, Saber, Rin, and even Sakura's head all turned towards him and glared daggers at him. His apology cut off as if the air had left his body.

"Why are you even here? You lost; you can't be here to gloat!" Rin said, crossing her arms.

"Hey, I didn't win, but I still got twelve points in one round, that's more then you ever did!" Ilya huffed back.

"I am not sure you did, Ilyasviel." Surprisingly, the soft voice that cut in was Saber's. Well, she was always competitive though. "Caster survived after all." Saber continued.

"Shut up, Berserker definitely beat her! And I absolutely, definitely, surely beat Lanc…!"

Ilya's comeback was interrupted by what seemed to be a mini earthquake. Below them, the ground seemed to twist and shift, some kind of after effect from the bounded field collapsing? As they watched, there was a sudden up swell several feet long, and a large crack formed as suddenly something ripped its way up.

It was…it was an armored hand, clutching lengthwise an immediately recognizable red spear. Moments later, the rest of Lancer clawed his way out of the ground to stand panting and exhausted looking before the rest of the team.

"Lancer…" Bazett's voice seemed to catch in surprise. "How did you…"

"Keh! Like I'd die!" Lancer responded, tossing off a triumphant grin despite his condition. Ilya looked flabbergasted.

"Y-you…survived my bounded field collapse…? You…you're not human!"

"Hohoho…" The sound shook them up as they turned to see Caster, having recovered somewhat approaching with Kuzuki in tow. "Looks like everyone is alive, so isn't the score for the Einzberns more like zero?"

"Shut up, everyone shut up, stop making fun of me!" Ilya yelled, throwing her arms up in anger, "I am not here to talk about points anyway!"

At that, Ilya put one finger to her mouth and grinned, her mood swings were even faster than Lancer.

"Oooh, actually, I am!" She said, reaching into a fold of her dress and coming out with something.

"It didn't work out the way I intended, but rules are rules! Emiya Shirou!" Ilya began, for once eschewing the use of onii-chan, "Master of Saber, I declare you the winner of my game and present you with this key!"

Ilya firmly placed the object into Shirou's hand. Now that he looked at it, he remembered from her video, the key to a bounded field so powerful that even all the army of the King of Conquerors couldn't breach, whatever that meant.

"You had the highest score at the end, and you beat my Berserker, so you win. Now…remember the award? You can take aaaaaaaanyone you like with you, but surely the choice is obvious right?"

Ilya smiled up at him, playing up her charm for all she was worth. Shirou took a quick back step in reply, feeling his mind go blank. In all the excitement he had forgot there was a reason they were fighting in the first place!

Ilya leaped forward past Saber and hugged onto his midsection, while just behind him Saber turned a confidant look his way, and behind her, Rin was staring with more than her usual intensity. Lancer and Bazett were fighting already, having seemingly forgotten all about the rest, and Caster and Kuzuki were standing in companionable silence.

"W-well, actually…" Shirou began…

The next day, on a brilliant, sun lit beach, a single, beautiful girl in a red bikini lounged happily on a beach chair, soaking up the sun, a single, empty chair next to her. Tohsaka Rin was enjoying her day immensely when a shadow past over her eyes, as the chair next to her was occupied, she smiled in welcome.

"Ah, Sakura, just getting up?" Rin said to her sister.

Sakura Matou was sporting an attractive white one piece, looking a little flushed in the wonderful warm heat; she relaxed into the beach chair with a sigh as her sister called to her.

"Mm-hmm, Rider and I took some time settling in after our flights, and she was exhausted so I didn't set an alarm. How long have you been out here?"

"Huhuhu…actually a while, I had some things to take care of this morning, so I was up early, I left Archer back in our rooms. He didn't seem like he wanted to leave with me, wonder why?"

Sakura didn't want to say it out loud, but considering Tohsaka Rin's noted preference for lazing about in the morning herself, it must have been important for her to rise with the sun.

There was a brief flurry of activity as an attractive but overdressed young man on the beach came sprinting down at nearly a dead sprint and offered with a gasp, a fruity drink in a large decorative glass to Rin. She signed something for him and took a few relaxed sips. Sakura was a bit surprised, of course, it was nice to see someone who took their job seriously, but the serving boy had run as if his life was on the line.

"How are the rooms? You and Rider make out ok?" Rin's voice cut into her thoughts. Sakura scowled rather fiercely, surprising Rin since Sakura Matou was usually a gentle and kind soul.

"Fine. Beautiful. Wonderful." Sakura ground out each word as if it was its own sentence, Rin had a feeling she knew why.

"Well, Ilya had to give us pretty good ones, but she always plays so dirty." Rin said wryly, looking out over the water. In the distance they both could make out a certain red haired boy waist deep in the water with a tiny girl riding on his shoulders. Her shrieks of laughter were clearly audible. She was wearing the same scandalously revealing swimsuit she had worn the day before. Nearby, Leys seemed to be trying to play a water sport with Sella, but without much response.

"Dirty nothing, what kind of bargain is that!" Sakura burst out! "She never actually said how many people we could bring along! He was right!"

They both thought back to an annoying conversation back at the airport. Ilya had reluctantly allowed Shirou to bring all the contestants on the trip, but she said accommodations had only been provided for a few people, while she could arrange more, it would either have to be paid for separate, or Shirou would have to bargain. She agreed to set everyone else up if Shirou would play with her and her alone during the morning.

"Well, maybe it's good Shirou got us our own bungalows. I saw the original one he and Saber are in, and it would have been pretty cramped" Rin mused out loud. "Besides, girls should have somewhere safe away from annoying guys. I mean, what would you have done if Shirou attacked you while you were asleep?" Rin said it as a joke to lighten Sakura's dark mood, but after several moments of no reply, she looked over at her sister a bit worried.

However, instead of silently fuming as Rin had expected, she was now sitting half way up with her eyes closed and her hands clasped together, a slight flush reddening her cheeks. Rin put her head in her hands.

"Err…ahh!" Sakura vocalized, becoming embarrassed, she flailed her arms a bit as she tried to come up with smoothing to say.

"Oh…Ah yes!" She began quickly, "Archer! How is he? Wasn't he amazing? It was so impressive when he attacked Berserker like that; I never thought he could attack with so many weapons!"

That brought an extremely self-satisfied smile to Rin's face, but she didn't directly respond, instead laying her head back with her eyes closed in the sun. Sakura recognized that look; it was the same one she saw flicker across her face after Rider had attacked Archer in the third round. It was Rin who was the natural genius, but Sakura was no mental slouch, thinking back she suddenly saw a great many pieces fall into places in her head and felt her mouth open with shock.

"You did it! I don't know how but…" She said, pointing an almost accusing finger at her older sister.

"Did what?" Rin asked airily. She raised up on her seat and lowered her sunglasses. "You mean something like…"

It was the first day of the contest. Rin was covered in fresh mud and dried refuse. Her clothes were stained so badly she had to use Archer's coat just to clear her eyes up. The smell was so bad that sleep was impossible. A weaker girl might have already cleaned some of the mud up from her face with tears, but not Rin. She was _mad_.

"I CANT BELIEVE THIS!" she had raged, not for the first time. "THAT BRAT IS GOING TO PAY, I CANT LET HER GET AWAY WITH THIS!" Archer had felt somewhat bad for his master, though in all honesty, a floppy disk could be put into the A drive being true wasn't that difficult an answer. Not that he was going to explain that to her. Instead he just sat back, answering where he could and trying not to arouse his grouchy master's ire.

Finally, after stomping around the room several times raging, she had fell exhausted into the small chair by the table that Archer suspected would have had dinner had they picked the better option. Rin noticed it to, her stomach let out an almost cute growl, but that only added to her misery.

"I'll…I'll get her for this…" Rin sniffed.

That was far enough as far as Archer was concerned, watching his Master get taken down a peg, was one thing, but she was nearly in tears at this point. He settled himself into the chair across from her.

"Master, I…don't think we will get much rest anyway. What do you say we examine the situation?"

Rin cocked her head at him, waiting for him to continue.

"We should consider how to best deal with Ilya and Berserker when we encounter her," Archer continued.

"Uh huh." Rin nodded, her voice came out a little scratchy but she picked up the train of thought.

"We all have to keep going for points." She said. "You and I are in first place, which is probably why Ilya gave me an impossible question!" She clouded over again, but continued, "We all keep fighting, we have a whole day of this, and your magical energy has already gone down after fighting caster and using a Noble Phantasm against Saber. We can win, but it will be worse by tomorrow…"

Rin trailed off, she could see the puzzle, but wasn't smart enough to see the answer. Or no, that wasn't right, Archer thought, it wasn't that Rin wasn't smart enough, only that she was unsuited for considering a scenario other than her going all out. Fortunately for her, her Servant did.

"Master, what if we didn't win?"

Rin looked up angrily, thinking he was giving up, but Archer held up a hand.

"If the purpose is to make us compete and drain Servants of their combat ability, then maybe we should play a game of our own…"

The next day would bring special trials for their team. It wasn't enough to just lose, that might make Ilya suspicious and spoil their plans. They had to be beaten, convincingly, in a way that would not appear contrived. Fortunately, the other Servants were all spoiling for a fight.

Before the second match, Archer had correctly predicted Saber would want revenge for her defeat in the first round, though as Rin would later note, both she and even Archer were surprised by her sheer vehemence.

The third round had been harder, he had expected Rider's attack and had planned to exchange a series of blows and then allow himself to be driven into a corner and flee into the water, but her anger had been an unwelcome change. Still, the overall strategy went off fine; Archer was able to use the Rho Aius to defend himself from Sella and when the smoke cleared, he and Rin had already snuck off the bridge into the water.

The next night though, Rin and Archer were both feeling very guilty. Rin wondered if this had almost been an example of her ability to always screw up at the worst time in action. Shirou and Saber at the hands of Gilgamesh! If they hadn't thought they were so clever, Archer would have been ready to fight, and something terrible might not have been so close to occurring.

It made Rin's heart sick to think of Shirou trying to tear himself free of impaling swords trying to save Saber from the worst enemy for her. Even Archer had been unnaturally silent. Eventually though, they decided to stick with the original plan.

Keeping Archer's magical energy high had provided new options, but there was a new twist now. Gil's presence had been a sure sign Ilya was targeting Saber, and it was no secret that the enemy of Berserker was Saber with Excalibur. Therefore, if they had the opportunity, Archer would need to try and prevent Ilya from outmaneuvering Saber again.

"And then Archer won, No way Saber would have been able to do that without him!" Rin finished in a bit of a huff. "But Ilya gave the win to Shirou, which I thought she would, but Shirou definitely owed me for the win, so he should have invited me! Trust Emiya Shirou to find a way to make a choice without actually picking a girl for once, he is so unreliable."

Sakura found herself amazed at the lengths Rin would go to avenge a slight, and the way her Servant fought that was so different from heroes like Saber. She flashed back to what Rider had said; Archer would not lose the same fight twice. Though, she wasn't happy that Rin had wanted Shirou to take her.

"Err. But! You really don't seem that mad?" Sakura asked, trying to get by the awkward moment.

"Eh? Oh, well, maybe I am not. I have learned to enjoy the simpler pleasures in life." Rin replied with another smile.

"Oh? Like what?"

"Friends, family, and the opportunity to run up the tab on the annoying little brat who dunked me in mud!" Rin returned with a coy grin. At that she waved in the air and another servant came sprinting out to her.

"Hey this is good, is this expensive?" Rin asked, pointing at the drink she had been served.

"Err," the server began.

"Great, I'll take eight more, charge them to the room. You want one Sakura?"

"Um…"

"She wants ten. And write yourself a nice tip, thirty percent. Fifty."

Sakura saw the way the poor fellow's eyes widened almost to bursting as her sister placed more and more outrageous orders. But even so, while fun, Ilya had flawlessly arranged extra flights and last minute rooms for everyone, she wouldn't drain the Einzbern accounts with a little splurging!

That's when Sakura noticed the bag next to Rin. It was a small shopping bag, filled to bursting with store receipts. She remembered the several expensive jewelry and beachwear shops filled with designer clothes and name brand products, which had been open when she arrived but had all been closed when she went down this morning when she left her room.

In her mind she saw a flash of the suite that contained Rin and Archer's rooms, filled nearly to bursting with shopping bags from all the stores Rin had been able to find this morning.

Sakura again saw her sister's self-satisfied grin play across her face.  
_  
Tohsaka Rin was truly scary._

_Black speedo and no shirt, very nice…_

Rider thought, taking a seat at the open air bar, next to Archer who became a knot of muscles when he noticed her presence.  
_  
Black speedos and just anti-social enough to be shy about it, _Rider mentally amended. The girls of the island owed Tohsaka Rin a thank you. There was no way Archer had willingly picked that as his beachwear. Tohsaka Rin had been even more domineering and grumbling after the flight, and if one Emiya was having his time monopolized by his sister, Rin had something of a spare to bully and boss around.

Rider herself wore an eye catching black bikini Sakura had picked out for her, knowing she filled it out superbly, but it was nice to see other Masters taking an interest in making their Servants attractive. Though, in Archer's case, it had clearly been by force.

"Anything going on?" Rider said after accepting a highball from the bartender. Archer tended to take a self-appointed role of watcher over the other Servants, and if there had been any disturbances with having this many so close together, he would be the one to know.

The question drew a smirk from Archer. "Does that count?" he asked wryly, indicating using a cocktail glass. Rider didn't have Archer's reinforced eyes so it took her a moment to realize what she was seeing. Further on down the beach were three people who had apparently taken over one of the beach changing stations. Kuzuki, Caster, and…_was that…Saber?_!

Saber was wearing a wide brimmed straw hat and a becoming white sundress, looking scared. Caster was leaping around her, taking pictures from all sides. She was moving so quick and looking so happy Rider thought her feet might not even be touching the ground. Caster waved her arms around, and though her voice didn't carry far enough, they could see Saber awkwardly try to pose without much success. Caster was eating it up though.

After a few minutes Saber was forced into the station with a small sack and emerged shortly wearing a more elegant beach wear set up involving dark shades and a small parasol. Caster's squeals of delight were clearly audible.

"What…am…I…looking…at!?" Rider stuttered out after she finally found her voice, shock clear in her tone. The strongest Servant in the war, the one who had beaten both Gilgamesh and Heracles in her time, was being bullied and bossed around by _Caster. _The world suddenly made no sense.

"Remember when Gilgamesh was defeated by Caster?" Archer asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Rider nodded once in reply.

"Well…At that time, apparently Saber said she owed Caster. This morning Caster asked Saber if she meant that, Saber said she wouldn't go back on her word, one thing led to another…"

Archer looked back over to wear Caster and Saber appeared to be arguing. Caster was holding an extremely sheer nighty that would leave nothing to the imagination and Saber seemed to be rejecting it. After a moment Saber walked into the changing room holding the nighty as if it were a live snake. Caster had her hands clasped joyfully in front of her while she was waiting.

"I have never seen Caster so happy." Archer remarked wryly.

"And… Kuzuki… is… happy… too?" Rider said, diverting her attention to Caster's Master. Kuzuki was lying under a large beach parasol in a set of swim trunks. Despite the beautiful location and the antics of two attractive girls he was staring at the ocean as inscrutably as ever.

His body did have a tiny shine that came from recently applied sunscreen. Thinking about it, it was easy to picture Caster carefully applying it to care for her Master. Between the chance to make Saber look cute and dote on her Master, perhaps it wasn't surprising that Caster's feet were just barely touching the ground. Maybe it was more surprising that she hadn't just floated away all together.

"Any word from Lancer and Bazett?" Rider found herself asking after a few drinks.

"Words? No, Vocalizations? Yes." Archer replied with a strange look.

"Are they _still_ going at it?! Rider asked in surprise. Late last night when they had arrived Lancer had shoved the furiously blushing Bazett towards their accommodations, saying embarrassing and rather frank things about a promise Bazett had evidentially made. Those who had occasion to walk near the house, now that Rider was looking, either gave it a wide berth or walked uncomfortably quick to get out of ear shot.

"Mnn." Archer grunted. "I had the staff start bringing them water a while back. That might not be enough at this point."

"Thinking about sending breakfast along?" Rider guessed.

"Actually, I was thinking about furniture," Archer said with a wry grin. "Can't be an intact bed left in the house."

"Hah. Not just that, I am sure the shower is out!" Rider said laughing.

"Bath is totally destroyed."

"Chairs are in pieces."

"Walls all have holes in them"

"Floor is in tatters."

"Sink is unrepairable."

They laughed together for a moment. The bartender took the time to bring them their next round, which they clinked together and pounded back.

As morning turned to afternoon the massed Servants and Masters, save Lancer and Bazett were prodded by Ilya into a very action packed day. She insisted on cramming in as many activities as possible, including swimming and hang gliding, as if almost desperately trying to pack in as much fun as possible. In the fun, day turned to night quickly.

The combined contestants found themselves led by Ilya's maids to a dining hall filled to the brim with sumptuous fair. Shirou was forced to sit between Ilya, and Rin claimed the seat next to him. He couldn't believe how fun the day had been, and enjoyed chatting with Rin about the day's events. He looked over to see his Servant seated at the very middle of the table, surrounded by many delicacies including more than a few she had requested specifically from her book. He supposed she would be in heaven.

Which is why he was surprised to see her mostly empty plate and the way she was just pushing food about it, looking out of sorts. He was even more surprised when just a few minutes after supper started while everyone in was chatting, she stood up quickly and left the room. Shirou thought about going after her, but was pulled back to his seat by Ilya, demanding to know what he thought of some completely unidentifiable rich person food she was holding out to him.

Saber took her place carefully at the bar. While not usually her preferred locale, the night was lovely and the view over the moonlit waters was wonderful. The entire bar was deserted because of the dinner in progress; the only person in the area was the shadow clad bartender in the back. He saw her take her place and after a bit of sorting away his utensils, came out to take her order. That's when Saber realized she had made a mistake. While the bartender had been cloaked in darkness, the shadows were things he carried with him.

"What? Avenger?!" Saber said in shock as the Servant known as All the World's Evil came out wearing a serving apron.

"Ah, Saber, don't usually get you back in Ahnenerbe. Always nice to see a new customer!"

"A-Ahnernerbe?"

"Sure, didn't you know? I work as a bartender there, I love this job!" Avenger replied with his usual brashness.

He didn't add that what he loved about bartending was it was a job where you got to sit for hours and listen to miserable people. He loved it! Couldn't get enough of it, didn't even take a paycheck. Hell, he would have paid to work there.

"Bazett won't let me near the house, so after trying to kill some time on the beach I figured I would just get back to what I knew how to do. So, can I get you something?"

"…Water will be fine, thank you." Saber said after getting over the oddity of having Avenger serve her a drink. He rolled his eyes and placed a carafe of sake in front of her instead.

"Heh, as a bartender you do two things: serve drinks and listen to stories. So there is your drink, what's your story?"

Saber took a sip and tried to collect her thoughts. Finally, she opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by an embarrassing loud growling sound. Again Avenger rolled his eyes and put out a dish of cold spring rolls from earlier. Saber sighed and popped one into her mouth.

It wasn't in Saber's nature to complain, so she was a little halting at times, but over the next hour or so she talked with Avenger about the battles she had recently been in, harrowing experiences, hard battles won, giving everything she had to win, and achieving victory.

"And so I achieved victory for my Master." Saber said, laying another empty carafe next to several empty others Avenger hadn't bothered to clean up yet.

"The reward was his to use as he wished, and he did bring me, so it's not like he didn't keep his promise. We even had the dinner he had said we would, the food looked good, but it seemed wrong to eat it without his company like we had agreed on. I did not wish to seem ungrateful to our host or cause a scene, but…"

Saber trailed off, thinking of the way Ilya and to a lesser extent Rin and Sakura had been the center of his attentions throughout the day, while she had spent a great deal of time in degrading situations with Caster to rectify the debt she had accrued when Caster had saved Shirou when she couldn't.

"It does feel as if I was not properly rewarded for my efforts." Saber finished, a bit morosely.

Avenger nodded along, rather sagely he thought. Trust a girl to get jealous over stupid stuff, though at least Saber was not as bad as his master. Thinking of jealousy though, there seemed the potential for something really fun…

"Saber, here is I think you should do," Avenger began.

"Sempai, that was fun!" Sakura said, hanging on his arm. After dinner they had walked a bit on the beach and came across an old photo taker cut out and had posed for a few pictures using a coin operated automatic camera. They were actually made for kids so they had to squeeze close together to fit, but Sakura hadn't minded at all.

He separated with her a little further down as Rin waved her sister over, probably for more drinks. Rin's glass hadn't been empty all day and she was usually pushing one into anyone who came by's hands. Shirou wasn't quite sure what that was about, though he had seen, on two separate occasions, a fight break out among the group of servers following her around. This was apparently over the chance to take her next order.

Shirou continued to walk down the beach a ways. Lost in thought, it took him a while to realize just how long he had been walking alone and why he was doing it.

He was worried about Saber. It wasn't like her at all to skip dinner and he hadn't seen her since. Just as he was thinking that he caught a flash of golden hair on the horizon and sped up to meet his Servant… and then skidded to a stop as she came up to meet him.

Shirou felt his face heat up immediately, his heart seemed to be pounding triple time as his Servant walked the last few feet.

"G-Goshujin-Sama, may I accompany you?" Saber said haltingly. Saber using that expression was almost more bizarre because it fit the rest of her. Soft white serving headwear, her hair tied back into a blue ribbon with a matching cloth choker. An attractive blue maid outfit complete with white apron that accentuated her slim curves completed the look, hanging high over her smooth thighs. Shirou didn't even know how to look at her!

"Goshujin-Sama, would you l-like some company tonight?" Saber started again, flushing red.

Shirou's mouth tried to work, to say yes, to ask what had happened, to exclaim in pure surprise, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't seem to actually push any words out. _G-G-GOSHUJIN-SAMA?!_

"NNNNGH!" Saber exploded, marring her servant like image by putting her hands on her hips.

"Why are you so silent Master!?"

Somehow that made it a bit easier for Shirou, dealing with his Servant's anger was easier then, well, meido Saber!

"It's not, I mean, I will, I mean, why are… GAH!" Shirou said, taking a moment more to collect himself.

"I would like to spend time with you, why are you dressed like that!?" Shirou said again, this time getting the words in the right order.

"Errr… wellllll," Saber trailed off, embarrassed. "Avenger said since you had spent the day of our vacation as you wished, it wouldn't be bad if I requested the night be mine! The reward is half mine after all! And… and he said maybe if I asked Caster for something a cute Servant would wear and say, you might pay more attention to me…" Saber trailed off, blushing even harder.

Shirou was finding it hard to think. A cute Servant, a cute servant; well, that was Caster for you. Her outfit was mixing the urge to run away, the urge to hide her from anyone seeing, along with less kind urges to damn the consequences and push her down on the beach right there. But one word cut through his thoughts.

"A-Avenger…?" Shirou asked in surprise. "Why would Avenger help…?"

That was almost unthinkable. That troll (he learned the word from Shinji) was only the type to help someone if it led to someone else being hurt. Following that thought, the worst case scenario would be…

"Saber!" Shirou exclaimed in fear, grabbing onto her shoulders and lulling her close in a panic, ignoring a surprisingly strong smell of sake on her breath. "Have you seen Rin or Sakura tonight?!"

Saber didn't seem happy at the change in conversation, but replied, "I believe I saw them both walking to the bar where Avenger was serving, they were staggering a bit so I assume had already been drinking…"

_**"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAT?!"**_  
_**"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAT?!"**_

Twin voices broke out into the night, Saber looked where Saber had when she had talked about Avenger and saw in the far distance the door slam open and two magus girls pile out in a fury... and then they looked back at him.

And Saber.

With their faces almost pressed together.

And Shirou was holding Saber close by her shoulders.

_W-W-Wait, hadn't this situation gotten way out of control?! This was just a mistake, but look at the looks in their eyes, th-there was no way he would survive this!_

"G-Got it Saber, I understood, I will spend time with you, I am sorry for ignoring you, but we have to hurry!"

Shirou tugged at her arm as he started to run down the beach.

"Err… yes." Saber said, following him in head long retreat.

"DON'T MOVE SHIROU!"  
"W-WAIT A MINUTE SEMPAI!"

_Please be there, please be there, pleeeeeeease! _Shirou was thinking, as he rifled through his pocket, that the look in the eyes of Rin and Sakura was unlike any he had ever seen. he would never see tomorrow if they caught up, so he was running to the one place he thought he might stay alive.  
_  
There!_

Shirou pulled out the key, the key that Ilya had given him as proof that he had won the game. He ran to the door of the special house. This was separate from their normal rooms, designed to be a special hideaway. Shirou slammed the key into the door, grateful he hadn't done something cliché like drop it, and threw it open. He and Saber stumbled inside and he turned to slam the door as hard as he could.

Surprisingly, or perhaps not, despite Rin's athleticism and reinforcement, it was actually Sakura who was only a step from the door as he pushed it closed. He looked desperately for a locking mechanism and was heartened to see several large, oversized mechanical locks manipulate themselves into place automatically.

"Haaa….haaaa" Shirou gasped, leaning on the door. He was safe, for the moment anyway. Shirou wasn't sure what was going on outside, but he couldn't even hear anything. It felt like he had been completely cut off. After catching his breath, he turned to the room…and immediately felt it catch in his throat again.

Soft music, shifting lights across the walls creating ambiance, a bubbling Jacuzzi for two with a filled champagne bucket, and a single love cushion set the stage. It was like a room straight out of an expensive love hotel; almost proudly the bed in the back was enormous, overshadowing all the rest of the house, covered in soft red blankets and giant pillows.

"Ilya…?" Shirou said asking a question of someone who, thankfully perhaps, wasn't there to answer for herself.

Who was there though, Shirou realized, he had almost forgotten. Saber had knelt at a small tea table, calmly looking up at him from the cushion her knees rested on. She seemed unperturbed at their surroundings. Her skirt hitched fetchingly up against her legs as she knelt, and Shirou tried not to stare.

"Err…right! Let me make something to drink!" Shirou said, the atmosphere throwing him off. He went into a small cooking area in the back that Ilya, knowing him pretty well, had created. It was quite well stocked for its size, and Shirou quickly heated water and assembled a small tray of cookies while he tried to think.

This was really the first moment he had had to think since he had encountered Saber. This room had an almost intoxicating scent to it that gave one naughty ideas that Shirou was trying to ignore. …but then, on the other hand, Saber had talked about the night being her reward, then maybe she wanted to…?! No, no, surely not, but maybe… as a man, he had to be prepared! That's right, a man needed to steel his nerves!

Feeling blood rush to his head (in more than one sense), Shirou threw his chest out and took a pot of tea and cakes out to meet his Servant.

"All right Saber, I th…."

Shirou immediately cut himself off as he actually looked at his Servant, at the tiny pool of drool that lay near her sleeping head. She had collapsed over the tea table and was now fast asleep. Even as he looked she let out an entirely unladylike snoring sound that grew slowly louder and louder.

Shirou felt his head hang down for a moment.  
_  
Well…Saber always says she has to eat to keep up her energy, and she skipped dinner, who knows, maybe she wasn't lying after all_! Shirou thought, grinning wryly.

Well she had earned her rest and then some. After the battles they had, and a day of being bullied by Caster along with a head of sake, her nodding off was entirely natural. He would put her to bed and nap in the love chair, Shirou supposed. He carefully picked her up, her head lolling over his shoulder, and carefully laid her down on the bed.

…Or rather, he tried to. As he tried to lift himself up he discovered Saber's hands had locked together behind him, one over his shoulder, and the other behind his back. He looked at her but she seemed to be completely asleep. Still, no matter how many times he tried to her lift up she kept ahold, like the way she occasionally cuddled her lion plushie to sleep when she thought nobody knew.

He had to get free though. He couldn't just lie next to a sleeping girl who hadn't given permission, as that would be completely wrong, and though he had been ready to do more earlier, he didn't want to add to the things he would have to explain to Sakura and Rin tomorrow.

…? What was that thought?

Ah that's right, tomorrow. There wasn't one.

There would never be a tomorrow to the fourth day. He felt himself flashing back to many things: Ilya at the very beginning had said the game was to make the four days exciting. Avenger had told Saber half the reward was the night they had, which he finally understood now. There was only one day to be awarded to the victor. Ilya had only cared if he was killed in the game. That made sense, as if he died, he couldn't take her on a trip, but as for the others; it was fine. Any damage sustained would vanish when the circle began again.

That was now, and this was the end of the circle. The cycle would start again, and the abnormality had not been explained. When he woke tomorrow, he wouldn't be at the beach, he would be at home, and everything that happened would be nothing but a murky swirl of happy memories.

Shirou puzzled at that thought. _Happy? _The game had been filled with danger, and terrible things had happened. He still remembered the icy feel of the shadow's grip, Gilgamesh's smirk while swords twisted inside his body, and the feeling of watching Saber slowly losing against the Bersercar.

…but… at the same time it had been pleasurable. He also had seen the Servants clash in battle, Sakura's grin as they played together, Rin's exuberance as she fought to be number one, and his sister's endless enjoyment of being both host and contestant.

The clock was nearing midnight now, Shirou decided that maybe it was all right, just this once. He laid himself first down on the bed, Saber on top of him, resting contentedly on his chest.

He was growing tired, but… maybe… some other loop, some other time, he thought he might just come back to play in Ilya's castle again. It had been fun after all.

Shirou felt a sleepy grin cross his face as his eyes drooped down.  
_  
Yeah…it really had….been….fun…_

****

EXIT. -Restart.


End file.
